• Name: Renegade
  
• Age: 1.5, 1924
  
• Gender: M
  
• What are they: Domesticated Dog
  
• How you found out about us: Affiliate on another site
  
• Silver Dollars used?: n/a
  
• OOC Name: Painted
  
• Other characters: n/a
  

Tato wagged his whole body when Mama Althea came home.  She gave him pets, of course, but fewer than usual.  Mama seemed distracted.  Did it have anything to do with the colors and smells emerging from the sack she'd brought home?

Apparently!  A few minutes later, she left the house again, carrying some of the items that had been in the bag.  Sadly, she hadn't left any food out for Tato.  But he was more interested in what she was doing.

Time to sneak out!

Mama didn't know about Tato's Sneaking Out Hole.  Tato was verrryyy careful about ONLY using it when she was definitely for sure gone, which right now she was.  Tato squeezed through the hole -- his fluff disguised how small of gaps he could actually fit inside -- and trotted out to the front path, where he picked up Mama's scent.

One short tracking later, and he was in the middle of the Busy Place.  So many sounds and smells came from every side, but Tato was focused on just one.  He saw Mama standing next to a big tree with colorful things all over it.  There were other tall friends next to her, and Tato realized he'd seen something like this before.  The last time it snowed.

It must be tree-decorating time EVERY time it snows! he realized, feeling very pleased with himself for figuring this out.

Well, the tall friends shouldn't have to be the only ones putting colorful things on trees.  Tato wanted to help too!  And he knew just what to do.

Tato ran home and grabbed items one at a time, depositing them in a secret place.  Then he brought the items out to a place just past the stables, where several evergreens grew.  He found one that should be easy to reach and nudged his items next to it.  Satisfied, he sat back on his haunches, panting, and looked for another friend who could join him in decorating.

If Tato knew one thing, it was that Decorate-Tree-Time was a group activity!

((OOC: Among the items Mashed Potatoes has brought are toilet paper, colored class bottles, and 1 knitted hat.  You can declare other items as well, as long as they could reasonably be carried by a dog!))

A dozen feet from the post office, Althea shifted her bag of groceries onto one hip so she could free one hand to fish for her package.  She felt the thing immediately, but it was stuck on one of the seams of her coat.  "Aw, drat it," she muttered as she tried to work the damn thing free.  So focused was Althea on her task, she paid no mind to who or what may be approaching.

Finally, after she gave her coat a hearty shake, the parcel popped free.  She pulled it out and inspected its contents: several postcards from cities around Alaska, to be mailed to her daughter and grandson.  Lots of them depicted various lodges and tourist cities, while her favorite depicted a scene of various native species living around a lake.  Come see the Alaskan wildlife!" it proclaimed in playful lettering.  There was some slight crumpling at the very corners of a few of the postcards, but otherwise they were in perfect shape.

Althea nodded in satisfaction and reached to hug her food with both arms.  Then she straightened, intending to cross the rest of the distance to the post office and head inside.

Happy Holidays Iko Rush!

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