BUT I DON'T KNOW THIS ☆ new piercings

[wormwood.]

NOTHING BESIDE REMAINS — It wasn't often that Aurum ended up thinking about trying to change his appearance. This was simply because he didn't really want to change how he looked. There had been a brief period when he had been an awkward and growing young cub, where he had constantly worried over his looks, but that was long over by now. Or so he thought, anyways. He wasn't nearly as anxious or looks obsessed as he had been when he had been what was practically a teenager, but... he couldn't deny he felt a bit awkward these days. His wounds had nearly fully healed, but the scars still remained, as did his kinked tail, and the slightly crooked tilt that one of his wings now had. None of it was enough to cause his mental anguish every day, or anything like that, but they did have a tendency to be annoying. They were also enough to occasionally cause him to get second looks, as eyes traveled from his missing eye, to his crooked wing, and eventually down to his kinked tail. He hated those particular look overs, since they often made him feel like some sort of circus attraction while he was just trying to walk around town – not that he did that much at the moment.

While none of it was enough to make him want to shapeshift from his birth form, or do something equally drastic, he did feel the need to make a bit of a change. Nothing huge, just something to make him feel good about himself. Something to make his mind not focus so much on his flaws. So, after some thorough searching through those within camp that had the means to do so, Aurum had eventually found someone to do a few new piercings for him. Three small bronze rings on the outside of both of his ears, as well as a matching bronze nose ring that now adorned his muzzle. The process had been a little painful, as all piercings were, but the NPC he had found had been good, and the lion had remained mostly numb through all of it. Now, as he leisurely strolled from the NPC's home back towards his own house, he couldn't help the crooked smile that rested on his face. He knew that piercings weren't anything huge, especially for some folks around Tanglewood, but they made him feel good.

When he eventually found his way back to his own porch, he sat down at the bottom of the stairs, pressing one of his broad paws up against his nose. He winced before pulling the limb away, muttering after a string of curses, "That was a stupid idea... it's definitely in, though..." He didn't doubt that the piercer had done his job right, but he still felt an anxious little prickle running beneath his fluffy pelt. What if he didn't take care of the piercings right, and they somehow got infected? The thought of it was enough to make the former proxy wince, a little grumble leaving him as he searched through the supplies he had been given by the NPC.

( retro to takeover ) — OF THE MAN WHO WAS BORN AND DIED A KING.