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Post by Valentina on Feb 21, 2006 15:44:04 GMT -5
"Let's try down here!" the lieutenant called over her shoulder to the two dogs hopefully following her. The husky padded quietly into an alley between two large brick buildings, eying the dumpsters and piled trashbags hopefully.
The front of one of the buildings had been almost entirely glass windows, and the half-wolf femme had caught tantalizing scents of food while passing. She reared up on her hind legs to peer inside through the windows, and found that it was, in fact, a resteraunt. Tables were sprawled across the open floor, white tableclothes and silverware shining under the golden lighting. Ritzy, Valentina thought. Perfect.
And so she had slinked around to the alley, and now stood nosing open a garbage bag. One by one she plucked out scraps from the compost; half-eaten chicken wings, or just the bones, the tough part of steaks and T-bones, and baby-back ribs. She did this to a few other bags, and kicked over a trashcan, sending it's contents spewing across the alley. Eventually there was quite a pile of food, not even counting what the others had collected. The half-wolf sat and stared at it thoughtfully, wondering how they would get it all back to the den, and then spotted a crumpled plastic bag. She grabbed it with her teeth and shook it until it uncurled, then dropped it and bit by bit, put all the food she'd collected into it.
As time had progressed, an uneasy feeling had crept into the femora's chest, and she felt it imparative they hurry. Having humans around gave them a false sense of security. The wolf clearly didn't want anything to do with the humans, and therefore must have ignored them. He'd had to go through the city, and hadn't gotten captured, so he must have left the humans alone. Oh no, she thought. He's only after dogs.
"We need to get moving. What have you gotten?" she asked her comrades, finding that her eyes darted to the slightest movement, and she held her breath at every foreign creak or groan.
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Post by .::Tyrant::. on Feb 22, 2006 13:13:10 GMT -5
Aphro followed Valentina closely, her brown eyes flitting to the large restaurant window as she passed it. She stopped, turning to press her nose against the glass for a moment. A few people, eating an early dinner, were seated at the tables, talking animatedly - although Aphro could not here their words - and digging into plates of delicious looking food. They looked so warm, so care-free. Aphrodites found her stomach growling.
A flake of snow settled on her nose, and the cold sensation it brought with it plunged her back into reality. She turned sharply away from the window as Valentina disapeared into a nearby alley and glanced quickly over her shoulder to check that Espio was following. If she had had her say, she would've told him to stay back. She didn't want him to get hurt again, especially not on her behalf. But she had already left when he began to follow, and had only recently noticed his presence.
Sighing, Aphro trotted quickly into the alley. Her observant brown eyes swept over the rubbish bins lining the grotty walls, and her clever nose breathed in the aromatic scents of half eaten food. Her stomach growled audibley, and she made her way quickly to the nearest bin and reared up on her hind-legs, placed her paws on the lid, and pushed down hard, sending it toppling over. Instantly, she had her head stuck in the opening, joining Valentina in finding as much food as possible, and reeking havock in the process.
Soon enough, several more trash cans were lying on their side, their contents spilling onto the alley floor. Anything remotely edible had been extracted, and now lay in a sizeable pile next to Valentina's. Aphro stepped forwards to sniff it, and proceeded to remove an abandoned Coca Cola can that she had accidentaly picked up along with a mostly eaten fillet steak. The things humans threw away!
"I think we have enough already..." Aphrodites said tactfully, lifting her head and flinging the drink can across the alley. She then turned her warm brown gaze on Espio to see what he had, her features kind. Her words had been tactful because she doubted that, in his condition, Espio would have been able to scrounge much, even in this alley, that was so well stocked.
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Post by ~ T r i s s c a r ~ on Feb 26, 2006 15:47:55 GMT -5
[glow=white,5,300]As the fox-dog followed the two femmes, he stayed shrouded in the shadows, or at least tried to. A tall human looked at him and the fur along his spine bristled. He dared not lift his lips in a snarl, which would result in getting beaten.
Feeling out-of-place, the brute watched Valentina and Aphrodites scavenging and knocking over trashcans. He backed into an alley and stood on his hind legs, paws on a trash can lid. He withdrew them and grabbed onto the lid, trying to ignore the unpleasant texture in his teeth. He tossed it aside and reared up again, knocking it down. He ripped through the bag, sniffing.
A teenager that passed by threw the remnants of french fries at him, aiming to get it into the dumpster nearby. He whipped around, moving to the side but succeeding in getting a french fry on his head, against his large black ear. Not realizing he was sporting a fry, he continued pawing through the garbage. After disloging some from the close-to-bursting bag it avalanced over his head.
Wearing a piece of ham on his skull, too busy to notice it, he pulled aside a good-sized steak that someone just barely started. He threw this and some more fries over at the pile.
His indigo gaze met Aphro's and he smiled at her briefly, dipping his head. The ham slid until it was draped over his snout. Growling, he pawed it off.
"Sorry I couldn't get more," he muttered coldly, features masked again.[/glow]
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Post by .::Tyrant::. on Feb 28, 2006 11:12:20 GMT -5
Aphro returned Espio's smile, hers a larger, more open copy of his. A soft laugh escaped her lips as she watched the ham slip onto his dark muzzle, and she stepped forward, lifting a paw as if to nudge it off, then stopped as he did it himself, the smile still playing across her muzzle.
Then, Espio spoke, and his features hardened. Aphro's brow furrowed slightly, and suddenly her eyes were clouded with worry. She looked him up and down, noting the severity of his injuries, then shook her head and averted her gaze to the floor, feeling ashamed. She shouldn't of let him come. He was too badly injured! What if he never got better? It would be all her fault...
Don't dwell on that! Aphro reprimanded herself sharply and lifted her head again, chocolate eyes determined. I'll just look after him now that he's come... She met Espio's cold orbs and allowed another smile to shape her maw.
"That's fine. As I said, we've got plenty..." She said, gesturing with a paw to her and Valentina's considerably larger piles. It was true. The pickings were good in this alley.
Aphrodites turned to Valentina, and her eyes flicked to the bag at the husky cross' feet. She reached out a paw and pulled the bag toward her, then proceeded to mimic Valentina, dropping mouthful after mouthful of food into the bag from her pile. Then, she turned on Espio's pile and did the same. She didn't care if he protested. She was determined he wasn't going to out do himself.
"Ok!" Aphro said with feigned brightness, lifting her head from the bag. "Shall we get back?"
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Post by Valentina on Mar 2, 2006 23:40:49 GMT -5
The strawberry and creme husky watched the rhodesian ridgeback and the ebony fox-dog, and her mind flickered to her mate and her small shaman friend. Surprised, she realized the dread and loneliness that flared up inside her. What if the wolf had attacked back at the den? She couldn't bare to think of anything bad happening to Tyrant...she knew how strong he was, and Reverie and Laion were there, too, but one could never be sure. The fur prickled on the back of her neck subconsciously, and her wolfish ears were strained so hard Valentina found they actually hurt.
She turned her attention back to Aphro and Espio, just as Aphro finished putting the scraps into the bag. A smile flickered through her chilling pools as she watched the two interact, the electric current between them. She looked over her shoulder at the entrance of the alley, and nodded when Aphro suggested they left. "This should take care of the pack for a while at least. We can come back tomorrow if we have to."
Valentina then knelt and slipped her muzzle through the loops that were the handles of the bag, and tried to lift it, to no avail. She withdrew her maw and then nudged one thin plastic handle toward Aphro, flicking her eyes up to the femme's who brown eyes reminded her terribly of Tyrant's. She bit down on the other loop and waited for Aphro to do the same, so that maybe they could carry the weight together. Her gaze wandered to Espio, and she let go of the bag to say, "No offense Espio...it's just you're hurt, and noble for coming with us as it is. You don't need to exert yourself more than you need to."
She offered him a flash of an apologetic grin, and then a shadow over the black dog's shoulder at the entrance of the alley averted her eyes, and the half-wolf felt the blood in her veins run icy cold.
His body half visible in the shadowy morning light, slinking lop-sidedly along the brick wall toward them was the reason they were here; Valentina and Laion's good old pack mate, the mess one called a wolf. He stopped not a dozen feet from them, staring at them silently, and blankly. His face was twisted into what seemed to be a permanent expression of hate, despite his vacant eyes. Though his maw was brown with the rusty hues of Laion's dried blood, the wolf's ribs protruded sharply from his anorexic, albeit enormous frame, the dank fur spiked and filthy. He raised his head from its near-ground position, and the gaping hole in his neck was revealed, and Valentina heard his breath whistling faintly as it passed through his esophagus.
A numb expression came over Valentina's face, and her eyes somehow relaxed, but her mouth was set and the determined look that had burned in her eyes when she'd announced leaving for food came over her again. She raised her head from the bag, and without taking her eyes off the wolf or drawing a breath, spoke in an icy monotone, "Aphro, Espio...take the food back the the gang-" The wolf's lips suddenly reared up and every bit of fur on his body rose up in a wave like a fire consumes a barren forest, and his yellow fangs seemed to take up his entire face. The snarl faded into a low, steady growl, and Valentina continued. "I'll be the diversion...get the food back, run, and don't come back for me." She now tore her eyes away from the wolf to look at Aphro meaningfully. "Tell Tyrant I said I'd be okay."
She backed away from the two and took a step toward the wolf, and before she was ready he sprang at her; Aphro and Espio were behind her, and she knew if she moved, the wolf would be upon them and she'd be helpless to stop him. So she held her ground and crouched her body the tiniest bit...she didn't have to much because the wolf was so much taller than her anyway, his aiming for her shoulder had been like a pitcher aiming for the strike-zone of a person three feet tall.
She took his forelegs squarely in the chest, and the wind was knocked out of her, at the same time she felt the fang puncture and rip through the skin of her shoulder, although she knew it hadn't done nearly as much damamge as if she had held still. She cried out and was knocked backward, but thank god was not rolled. The wolf neither lost his footing, but did stumble in that graceful way similar to Laion, and before he had a chance to turn his attention to the other dogs Valentina leaped at him, the distance between them having been no more than a foot, and though she lacked the finesse of Laion, drove her face for his throat, then changed her mind at the last minute and latched onto his ear, feeling her fangs dig through and drag over the rough skin.
A savage howl erupted from him and he thrashed about, slamming the husky against the brick wall. Fire works exploded before her eyes and her lock on his ear loosened enough for the wolf to wrench his tattered aud from her jaws. The husky-dog slid down the wall and barely registered the beast coming at her again; she leaped to the side and the wolf bounced off the wall where she'd been, pressing off it with his forepaws and lunging after her. It somehow flickered through her thoughts the bit of battered common sense to run, and she rolled to avoid his snapping jaws and bolted out of the alley, that cool look still in her eyes, and she didn't look back. She could hear the massive pads pounding the hard ground behind her, and that was all she needed. Espio and Aphro were out of danger.
Everything seemed so surreal now. She was gliding over the sidewalk, dancing just out of the wolf's reach, panic a sick feeling in her throat, yet she felt as though her mind were outside her body, relaxed and watching the whole scene. She just had to run. Just let the others be safe, and then find a way to lose him. The whole scenario felt vaguely familiar to her, like de ja vous. At last she let out a long howl to announce where she was to any gang member that might hear her, as the edge of the forest came into view after rounding a corner. Finally... she thought. She hadn't come up with a plan yet, but her body was weary and her shoulder and head throbbed distantly. Maybe she could lose him at the lake. She was a good swimmer.
She whimpered under her breath, and leaped the fence, kicking up snow and flying toward the glistening lake. As she neared, she noted not a ripple on it, and her heart sank as she realized it was frozen over. It drew closer and closer and there was no where to turn, so said a quick prayer for herself and bounded onto the thin ice. The pounding of footsteps behind her stopped, and she attempted to come to a halt, although her claws grappled uselessly on the ice and she was in the middle of the lake before she stopped sliding. She turned slowly to look at her pursuer, and saw him standing on the bank, a dark shadow, the city beyond the white field that surrounded the lake, and the pink dawn that reflected on the ice. And that was when she saw it, recognized her feeling of familiarity.
The wolf stood with his paws not an inch from the edge of the ice, eyes round with fear, and Valentina recognized him at once. The memories from her puphood came flooding back to her, and she saw the kind hearted but not so adventuresome wolf that had been like her own older brother Laion, always playing with her and letting her tug on his ear or roll in the grass with him, wake him up and never be angry with her, or follow her to keep her out of harm's way when the immensely curious pup would attempt to be sneaky and run off alone.
The scene came back to her again; Valentina had wandered off, yet again, always wanting something more than what she saw, always craving something new. She'd risen in the early hours, and crept out from under the thick, scarlet tail that her mother always draped over her to keep her warm. Little did the tiny pup know, having escaped her mother and her over-protective half brother Laion, another pack mate, Laion's age, had awoken, and felt it his duty to follow her, to keep her out of trouble. Jaegar was his name, and being the quiet type, he did not try to stop the tiny femme but simply kept an eye on her.
Before long Valentina came about a miraculous discovery; hard water. She hit her nose off it after trying to drink it, curious by the way it was so abnormally still, and soon she had to test it, padding boldly out into the middle of it, and that's when it began to crack. In loud snaps, she saw the white lines spreading out from under her feet like a spider's web appearing, and she froze and began to cry for help. She looked up to find Jaegar standing at the bank of the pond, a look of terror on his face. She called to him, and he wanted to help, but as a pup the wolf had fallen through the ice himself, and almost drowned. Something deep inside would not allow him to bring his paw over that thin, crackling ice.
He looked on helplessly, and just as Valentina had felt the ice begin to give in beneath her feet, Laion had come flying out of the woods and skidded across the ice to her rescue, now being full grown, the same age as Jaegar but considerably smaller. He took the pup up by the scruff of her neck, and himself fell through the ice. He flung her toward the shore, where she landed on harder ice and pricked her way back to Jaegar. Laion struggled and tried to fight his way back onto the ice, but it just kept breaking under his enormous paws. After just two feet toward the bank however, Laion found he could touch the rocky bottom. He leaped easily back onto the frozen ground now, shook himself dry and picked up his little sister, who continued to whimper. He glared at Jaegar, not knowing that he would one day fight him with intentions of killing him, and walked shivering back to the sleeping pack.
And now Valentina saw it all over again. Jaegar was stuck, unable to come after her, something deep inside keeping him off the ice, but he looked on. Only this time no big brother was coming to the rescue. They were all back at the den, safe and sound and oblivious, and as the sun rose the ice would get weaker. She wanted to whimper, but held it back, something of a sob escaping her black lips. Finally she again threw her head back and let out a long piercing howl, calling for anyone, anyone that could help her.
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Post by darkwolf on Mar 3, 2006 15:38:56 GMT -5
Charlie being chrlie was always close to trouble. As he picked at something in an alley way a peircing howl echoed through. Charlie stopped and ran as fast as he could to the source. Jumping over a fence he saw the scene. A wolf standing at the edge of a lake and a dog almost wolf like drowing in it. Charlie didn't have to think twice. he ran for the lake jumping in. minature Ice bergs floated around and the water was cold. But Charlie had faced more then coldness. He swam across to the dog. "look I got your call. Ya just gotta trust me ok." Charlie dived down only to rise under the dog. Hoping that she would allow him to ferry her on his back to the shore.
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Post by Valentina on Mar 3, 2006 20:27:34 GMT -5
ooc: erm...Charlie's vury brave and all Dark, but um...Valentina's not drowning and the ice is solid, not broken...lolness anyways yall, gonna continue this at the lake. Whoever replies to this, make a new thread and post there.
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