It is still dark when Danielle wakes. The silver-furred wolfess loves these quiet moments, before the rest of the Academy rises, when she can be alone with her thoughts. She crosses her chambers by memory in the predawn gloom to her dressing room. A small battery lantern now her only source of light, Danielle methodically lays out her formal uniform for the day.
As she unhurriedly sheathes her legs in the opaque modesty of her stockings, Danielle reflects on the symbolic weight of the deed. At the Academy even the superficially simple act of dressing is imbued with holy significance, a private and solemn sacrament. The Academy uniforms are not just clothes to be simply put on; they are Noble vestments to reverentially clad oneself in. Dressing properly in the austere formal uniform requires complete concentration, careful and deliberate action. It cannot be done hastily. It is not an act of vanity. It is a conscious ceremony of humility, a daily physical affirmation of her choice to subsume her own wants and instincts to sacred service. The formal dress is armor between the body and temptation, a constant reminder of the commitment she has made.
Once her daily ritual is complete Danielle looks at the mirror and smiles at her fully-dressed reflection. Her velvet fur is demurely hidden away from all eyes by the warm embrace of the tightly-fitted textile, the dress and stockings intimately hugging her, the faint compression a persistent and comforting assurance of their presence. Her uniform is as much a part of herself as her own skin; and, more significantly, it is the skin she herself has made the choice to wear.
Danielle is seen here in a rare candid moment; if she knew you could see her in this state, she would be mortified. She is a student and priestess at the Bulconian Academy of Gonerra, a rather conservative boarding school for young ladies, and has appeared in a few stories of mine in that setting. Most of those stories are appropriate only for mature audiences.
I sat on this for far longer than I intended to. Cadmium completed it months ago but I didn’t want to post it in my gallery until I had completed satisfactory text to accompany the vignette. Which I kept putting off. Oops.
