"African Wild Dog," the biologist said, keeping his face blank. He'd carefully taught himself not to react to this with amusement; it tended to make people ask questions. "At least, I'm pretty sure." For the thousandth, millionth time, Brian ran his clawed fingers through the fur on his elbows.
"It's supposed to hurt quite a bit, isn't it? When it happened, for the first time... it just itched a lot, and was a little sore. Was it... was it worse for you?" At this he looked up, still in awe at the magnificent beast he was talking to. He could get used to this- having casual chats with perfectly animal humans - or perfectly human animals. Which was it, again?
