Sing Sing, Little Sparrow(ily)

[Bhu ♥ Irwin]

Life was...better. No, that wasn’t it--life was good. I smiled a lot now, played games with Ray, Joel, and my siblings. I spoke to Ryan yesterday, letting him correct my attack posture. He was being nice to me--I could tell he was still awkward around us all, but he was trying and I found myself believing that maybe he wasn’t like the humans. I found great joy in watching him with Kerry, after all. The man did know some pretty impressive moves that would certainly give a three-legged dog an edge. I enjoyed letting the crippled boy test them on me, and Ryan only had to scold me once for taking it easy on Kerry. I knew now that that would only hinder the boy’s development--so I defended like I would when I spar with Chris now. Okay, maybe I was a little softer, and I laughed a little more with Kerry--but he was something special.

My mind drew away from the training sessions at the thought. Special--Kerry was certainly the highlight of my life now. I didn’t understand the need to be around the boy, or the pride I felt when he succeeded and grew, but I didn’t really think I needed to understand. He was my best friend, the one I trusted from the get-go. Barbara was off in her own little life now tailing after Gavin--whom had decided being friends with the golden child was maybe not such a bad thing--and didn’t have time for me anymore. I got that. She was older. But Kerry? Kerry was still my friend and still made time for me. That meant a lot.

But there was another special dog in my life now, too. I shifted brown eyes to the side slightly to catch a quick look at the rusty furs that speckled along the man beside me. Jack Pattillo had had this...aura about him. I had never believed in in such things until I met the man--it was as if my gut knew right away I could trust him. I had questioned myself at first, but slowly I allowed myself to fall into the feeling. Now I had become like a parasite to him--I never left him alone. Okay, maybe I did because I didn’t want to be overbearing, but I was always eagerly sitting with one ear turned in his direction, hoping he’d call my name to ask I sit with him, or join him on a hunt. Like an hour ago, he had asked if I would like to join him on a hunt. I had aimed to be nonchalant with my accepting of the proposition, but instead I had bubbled over with excitement about my darker pelt being useful since the sun was swallowed by some folami. I didn’t understand that, all I knew was the sun was, in fact, gone, and Geoff had known it would happen. I shook away the thoughts, feeling my neck furs rise anxiously with them. Supernatural stuff was not an interest of mine--I would leave the excitement over the matter to Ray. He seemed all too eager to have chanting rituals to that Skoll character--all playful of course, but I couldn’t help but think the bullish man had the slightest thought that maybe his annoying antics would please this god figure enough to throw the sun back up. I rolled my eyes before stopping midstep.

I already had a good sense of smell due to my extensive tracking experience, but since the darkness had fallen it had gotten far better. My body knew no other way to try and make up for the limited eyesight. My nose lifted slowly to the air as I inhaled, make a short, quiet barking sound to Jack to warn him I had caught a scent of something--a folami. “A female folami.” I clarified before retracting a step. She smelled like one of the test tube dogs, and test tube dogs very rarely were pleasant to a couple kittenhuggering ‘no pack’ dogs like us. In fact, test tube dogs were very rarely pleasant to anyone but their precious humans.

And they very often had the muscle to back up their aggression.

[I L Y I C H]

With constant night shrouding the earth I had figured it had been long enough for my anxieties to settle. Geoff had said nothing bad would happen aside from the whole 'no sun' but, but I had still worried. That time had passed, and as in the last couple of days I had grown accustom to the inky shadows it had evaporated completely. Anxiety wasn't an emotion I was use to, and being rid of the uncomfortable tightness was nice. Having the company of my student was all the better. None of the children had seemed too terrified though a couple of them did seem to be playing poker with the rest of us. If there was any genuine panic I hadn't noticed it. Well, aside from Joel. That boor son of a bitch was at his wits end. He'd stopped talking last night and I'd not heard a peep out of him once sense which in and of itself was horrifying but he'd get over it. Nothing bad would happen and Joel's massive ball of anxiety would unwind itself just a little bit. Hopefully.

Never the less I had taken Miles with me when I'd left the office this morning. The boy was so enthusiastic. Really opening up and that was a wonderful thing to see. I'd been worried about the kid, at least worried about him the most. Children weren't meant to close themselves off. I mean I knew these kids weren't exactly in the best of shape emotionally when they came to us. I worried about all of them, but Miles had turned into my special case. It was always good to see those wide eyes light up when I went to ask him if he wanted to come with. We'd come out for roe deer this time. Smaller specimens then white tails it shouldn't be too much of an issue for the two of us to take one down. Honestly I could do it by myself but I wanted to give that victory to the black and tan boy walked at my side. I doubted he'd ever brought down anything that large and the sort of pride that blew you up from the inside when you managed to do just the right move was... brilliant. An adrenaline rush I wanted the boy to experience.

Ears flicking I looked sharply up at Miles' short bark. No fighter I didn't curl my lips. Didn't tighten my muscles. The sharp smell of adjusted chemicals told me all I needed to know of the dangers of what was coming. Striding forward rapidly I took a stiff legged stance beside the young boy, not able to hold off the protective aggression. "Don't tense up" I whispered to the air, hoping Miles would listen to me. He'd never doubted me in training before, so why should he now? "We don't want to be a threat if we don't have to be. But be ready." Looking the kid int he eye I offered him a swift reassuring smile. Neither of us were fighters sure but we both had our noses and it would be simple enough to run from a blind warrior in these dark grasses.

Lifting my snout back up I cast a careful mask of curiosity into the dusk world. "Excuse me Ma'am?" I called out softly, tail drifting slightly upwards. Defensive though I didn't fully mean to be. I had a kid to protect. "I'm Jack Pattillo. Would you mind coming out? This darkness is getting everyone a bit antsy." I was careful to tack on that 'everyone'. Hopefully she'd scented the rest of AH trailing all around this area. Or maybe she would think us part of Vea Apxn just to our south west. Needless to say I just hoped whoever was lurking out there in the shadows wasn't about to come forward fangs drawn. Joel's shoulder hadn't healed fully and we didn't need two injured old men running around.

[Bhu ♥ Irwin]

I trusted Jack, but that didn’t mean natural instincts would just melt away. My brain screamed ‘danger’ so my body tensed in preparation for a fight or, better yet, to run away. But I listened to his instruction as best I could, taking a couple deep breaths to calm my nerves. My muscles loosened slightly, but now I couldn’t get my breathing to slow down. Despite it, though, I felt a bit safer with Jack doing the talking. Chris had always reacted to strangers a bit more aggressively. He had said they needed to act bigger than they were towards possible threats, in hopes of intimidating. I liked Jack’s view better--don’t make an enemy where there is no enemy.

The voice that responded surprised me--it was heavily accented. “Crikey, you all scared the me to death!” The woman came pushing her way noisily into view, her light pelt glowing in the swallowing shadows. She had a sheepish expression on her maw, but her baby blues were playful. “What’s a couple blokes like you doing out here?” She was not built like a test tube dog, slim and a bit shorter than the average folami, but there was no mistaking her scent. I shrunk back as her gaze fell for me and a grin crossed her maw. “You look terrified. Don’t worry, I may be hungry, but I a bit weak to be taking on two folami just to eat you.” My stomach flipped, despite knowing she was only being playful. I found myself glaring uneasily at her before she switched her gaze back to Jack.

“The name’s Caiti, Caiti Ward. G’day and how do you do?” The woman bowed playfully and I found myself letting down my guard ever so slightly. I wasn’t ready to introduce myself yet, but I could play nice while Jack interacted with the accented woman. “And have you seen the sun? I would really love if it would start doing its job again. I haven’t been able to catch a thing since it quit!”

[/b][/i] I found myself stepping forward then, against my own will, a childish need pushing me forward and parting my jaws.

"Geoff said Skoll ate it. I just think it burned out.” The woman looked at me quickly, eyes quizzical but smile still warm.

“Is that so? Well Skoll must have been awfully hungry to eat the whole sun. That’s a ripper of a theory.” She got a little closer to me and bent down to whisper in my air. Her breath smelled like mint. Weird. “But between you and me, mate, Geoff sounds like a dingbat. I believe your theory.” I knew she was saying it loud enough Jack would be able to hear, and that she was only doing this to be nice to the ‘little puppy’, but I found myself smirking shyly before pulling behind Jack. This girl was weird.

She’d fit in well with the rest of the pack.[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size]

[I L Y I C H]

Face scrunching up slightly I took the smallest step towards Miles as the woman came shoving out of the brush. Her eyes were playful, and I could see something akin to so many of our pack mates in the way she looked but it did not calm me down. I trusted my pack mates. Loners had tricked me before. But I suppose it was unfair of me to be suspicious of her for the scent of her DNA. Her looks were at odds with the idea of what she had been built to be anyway. Perhaps I had scented wrong. Ears flicking I nodded to the girl in friendly greeting, trying to pretend I wasn't still up in arms and prepared to take my kid and bolt. "Hunting" I offered in response to the question, smiling meekly. Her words were right after all, we'd all been having issues. It was why Miles and I went out so often now a days. We had the best noses, and sometimes it almost seemed like Miles had been born just so his nose could grace the world with it's presence.

She did have an odd accent didn't she? I bowed in response, too well mannered to keep up my charade of 'dangerous man' to keep away from my normal polite nature. "Nice to meet you Miss Ward. And no. I fear it's not been with us either." Cutting a playful glance down at Miles I smiled earnestly. "We might have offended it." What did we ever do but offend absolutely everyone? It wasn't too nuts of a theory. Watching the boy assert himself I smiled to myself, keeping out of it. I'd heard a number of theories over the last few days. Most of them from Clari, and most of those seeming to be the most horrific things she could possibly think of. Honestly. Her and Joel just needed to be placed in padded cells for a little while. Not that Gavin seemed to be doing much better but then Gavin never seemed to be doing much better. But I trusted Geoff. The man wasn't a religious person. He didn't give two shits about some folami sitting on a cloud too far up for the rest of us to see. If Geoff invoked the god's name then I knew my old friend was serious.

Never the less I remained silent as Miles offered up his own theory. Shifting myself slightly to hide Miles when he ducked behind me, but allowing him to still see, I offered the woman a slightly tighter frown. Maybe it was hypocritical of me but I didn't like hearing this stranger diss my oldest friend. Geoff had saved all of our lives and I trusted him with my very soul. Even if he was a 'dingbat'. My gods this Caiti was almost as bad as Gavin with the odd words. But then I played along, trying to smooth my own poorly ruffled feathers by teasing Miles. Or maybe Geoff. Poor Geoffrey. "You think our Geoffrey has that much creativity?" Chuckling softly, I flicked my bushy tail across the top of Mile's head. Geoff was incredibly clever about such things I knew, but Miles probably didn't. He'd yet to be on a strategical hunt with our leader.

A lot of the pups seemed to think that Geoff was our alpha because the man had simply brought us all together but they were wrong. He was leader because he was extremely clever as well as being powerful. We trusted him with our lives and that was why he was our Alpha. And our Alpha did not lie. He never had under any important circumstances previously, and besides seeing Geoff serious and brooding was a very dangerous if not telling thing. No I believed Geoff. Skoll ate the sun for his own reasons. The difference between us two being I was loyal to the god while Geoff remained aloof and worried. Rolling my shoulders I cast a quick glance back towards camp. "Your welcome to come catch something with us if you'd like. Miles here has one of the strongest noses you'll ever see." Casting a proud glance to the boy I looked Caiti back in the face, curious more so then worried now. "After that you're welcome to come back to the office if you'd like. Or just leave. This isn't exactly 'our' territory."

[Bhu ♥ Irwin]

I could tell that my words over the Geoff figure had bothered the man to some degree. I flashed him a quick blink of apology, never having attended to offend him in any way. I knew children liked to think people heard and respected their opinions, and that was all I had been doing. I meant no ill thoughts over their friend, just wanted to support the pup. Now-a-days nothing was too far fetched--the sun could have burned out, sure, but I wasn’t about to dismiss the theory that it was eaten by some guy named Skoll. Or that we offended it, as Jack suggested to the child. Any of those thoughts could be true--honestly, I didn’t care the reason, I just wanted the sun back so I could get a good look at these dogs and stop tripping over roots.

“I don’t know, he could now.” The younger boy answered with a hint of amusement in his tone. “He comes back smelling weird sometimes. Gavin said it is the magic berries Burnie introduced him to--makes him smell and act strange.” My eyes widened for a second in my attempt to muffle the giggle. So these dogs had ‘magic berries’? I could only assume it was the same kind of deal my humans had, except they mashed the berries and added some other stuff to the concoction before they ingested it. It always made them smell foul and act like morons, too. It also made them harsher on occasion, but maybe it didn’t have the same affect on dogs.

I flicked my eyes away from the child and gave Jack a side-eyed smile. 'Magic berries?' I mouthed the words playfully with an accusing glint in my eyes. These dogs were drunks--or was it just Geoff and the Burnie the child had mentioned? Either way, I wished to explore the idea further but before I could try and convince these two to let me parasite onto them, I was, instead, invited. Looking to Miles, I watched the boy shrink back further behind Jack at the man’s statement about his nose. “Is that so, lil’ bloke? I’d love to see you put that gift to work.” I gave my best impression of a puppy’s pout. “My tummy adn’t seen a good meal since the orb quit it’s job.” I watched him stare at my carefully, peaking around Jack’s leg for a moment before taking a step out. He didn’t seem to be doing anything, but good trackers didn’t need to take exaggerating inhales to catch a scent. “Oh, but just a request--no felines. I had my fair share of 'em while training. If I never have to hear another plead for mercy again it will still be too soon.” It was only then I took a self-concious step back and looked a little nervously towards Jack. I wasn’t a kittenhugger, I just had a thing with killing things I could understand the language of. I wouldn’t kill a human for the same reason--a lot of folami frown upon such a weakness. “Hope that doesn’t force you to take back the offer of me going to the--what’d ya call it ? Office?”

I wouldn’t fight a man and his child, so I tensed up and prepared to run.