My Underling

It's good to have an underling. I've never had an apprentice, either, so my new underling has decided to also act in that capacity for now, until something more profitable comes along. This is fine with me, because good underlings are hard to find. His name is Styx, possibly because he likes water but isn't a very good swimmer, so he's always in danger of crossing over to The Other Side. It's also possible the person who named him wasn't sure how to spell Sticks, or Stinks, but I'm just guessing.

As I mentioned a couple days ago, I already liked the dog who lives here, but I like Styx even more now. I suspect Styx feels the same way, because he watches me when he thinks I'm not looking, in order to memorize the way I carry myself and the look in my eye. Imitation is the most important facet of apprenticeship.

Whenever Styx sees a cat, he growls and rushes at it, because that's what I would expect him to do if he didn't love cats so much. He thinks I don't know about that, but I do. Styx used to have a cat of his own, but the cat died.

Styx doesn't have a lot of hair, so he's prone to clinginess and shivering when the weather turns cold. When he isn't warm, Styx forgets his obligations and tries to jump in my lap, or goes off and looks for someone with a blanket or a heating pad. When he's cold, Styx isn't a very good underling.

But I still like this dog. Styx does his best to be a good apprentice, and most of the time he does a fine job of it. I know he cares, except maybe when he's cold.