Original Characters: Charlotte & Yogg

‘Yogg was a Himalayan Rock Shepherd. People who’d never seen him assumed this meant he was some kind of dog. He wasn’t a dog. His skin was scalier, his teeth longer, his bite quite fantastically more venomous, and he was even more loyal.
Like many good dogs however he was the proud and careful owner of a Person, and his person was Charlotte. Yogg knew his person needed constant exercise and distraction to keep her happy and healthy, so he dutifully stole her shoes, chewed her pillows, made strange noises in the night, and brought her things from the garden that he thought she might enjoy, (recently including various rocks, half a toad, a whole palm tree, and the chewed hubcaps of a new BMW.)

Yogg also knew his person would need protecting from other people, especially stray or vicious ones. And that sometimes there’d be worse things than people – nameless things that haunted Charlotte’s nightmares, and he’d need to chase them back into the dimension they’d crawled from until he’d pinned them down and torn off their tentacles. He was very good at it. (This was another trait he shared with actual dogs, though apparently most humans are unaware of this vital service that their companions do for them, the ingrates.)

But there were times when his person was besieged by an enemy Yogg couldn’t see; some shapeless, grey weight that he couldn’t sink his teeth into. At these times (no matter how many shoes he stole, or interesting things he dragged in from the garden) he couldn’t seem to make his person happy again. He feared she’d sink into that dismal place where he couldn’t follow. All Yogg could do was hold on, and hope that if he held on tightly enough she wouldn’t disappear. ‘

(From my work-in-progress story.)

Acrylics, pencils, and pastels on paper, 21 x 29 cms