Nobody Near [bhu.]

[I L Y I C H]

It had been at the very least four months that we had been together. Growing back into knowing one another. The humans had truly stolen my child, but I couldn't hold it against Millie. This was what she had been shown after I had failed to protect her. This was how she had grown to be. As much as it hurt me to think of the things the humans must have done to her I could put those out of my mind. I could feel pride in the burns etched into my daughter's rusty fur. She'd proven herself to be better then any of the cage bred dogs in that facility. Proven herself to be made of something greater then mechanical cogs and steel. I was proud for that. For the wit in her eyes and the strength in her legs. Millie had grown into a strong young woman.

Geoff would have been proud too.

I'd gone off to hunt, and having caught myself a fat wood pigeon I'd decided to go back. Millie would most likely prefer to hunt for herself. For something more substantial and less feathery. So I was alone when the sound of paw steps drew my attention. There was something funny about them. Something off in the rhythm of the pace that lifted my head from the streamlined stance I took instinctually while walking. It took a moment of me standing in silence with the wind pressing into my face to catch the boy's scent. Longer still for the boy himself to become apparent, struggling under the weight of his own bird. On three legs none the less. Ears pushing forward, I frowned from my place amongst the undergrowth of the woods.

What could possibly have done that to a child so young? The lad was obviously folami through and through, but he stood so short despite the age in his face and eyes. The injury was clean, fur grown back over the edge of what was left at the elbow of his missing leg. So it was human done then. No wild born thing could have made such a clean edge on an injury like that. It was in that anxiety that I broke free of my hiding place. Initially i'd been skulking through it for fear of arousing suspicion in the wild pack streaming about these lands, but I'd been enticed. If this pack had damaged children in it perhaps it wasn't so bad, though a portion of me wondered if it was they who had damaged the child.

Stepping forward carefully, I blinked meekly at the blue merle when he looked at me sharply in surprise. It was to be expected. I had just stepped out of upwind and a good hiding place. his peafowl dropped from his jaws as he snarled, bi-coloured eyes cutting anxiously across my legs. Proof of how dangerous I could be. The scars cut into my shoulders. It would seem the damage done to my throat was hidden by my catch because the boy didn't focus in on that as he did everything else in his swift obviously well trained look at me. That snarl dropped after a moment, noticing I wasn't being threatening in anyway.

His ears came forward then even as his stance evened out. A trusting soul. Dangerous for his safety but telling of the pack he came from. Apparently it wasn't some hell hole like Millie and I had assumed. The boy stood up on the end of his toes, stretching as if trying to stand as tall as me. Smiling around my bird I took a step forward and sat down keeping ahold of the food just in case my own scars would frighten him. "My name's kerry. If you'll wait a second my pack mates will get their tails over here soon." That chipper bright voice washed over me, and I smiled warmly back. Nodding in time. Kerry frowned slightly. Ah yes. I'd forgotten my manors. Leaning forward to set the bird carefully on the ground I refocused on the little boy and spoke in my breathy painful way.

"Griffon"

[Bhu ♥ Irwin]

He always did this. My fur was going to be gray before my first birthday. Kerry had a knack for running ahead, even when he was with people as paranoid over him as Geoff and me. And now I could smell strange dogs nearby--surprise, surprise. I didn’t care if Ryan gave him magic fucking powers, the boy didn’t need to be off on his own. It wasn’t even the three legs or small size that made me so terrified, it was simply that he was alone. Anyone alone was an easy target. We usually went out in groups for a reason. I was nervous Kerry would get Ryan’s antisocial personality--he didn’t need that trait. He didn’t need to be independent. I needed him with me. That was what it all boiled down to--I wanted Kerry to attach himself to my hip and stay there.

In my effort to race ahead and find the wanderer, I had separated myself from Geoff, so of course my insides tied into knots when a stranger’s voice hissed over to my ear before a weight pushed me to the ground. I didn’t know or care what the woman had said prior to tackling me, all I knew is everything Jack had ever taught me about fighting left in that moment. I was a tracker, I was not a fighter. Yet somehow I had allowed myself to be distracted enough to let this woman sneak up on me, so apparently my nose wasn’t even as great as I thought it was. I tensed beneath her as I felt her hot breath push against my ear. “Where’s the rest of your pack?” The tone was not as hostile as I thought it would be. There was a deep concern there, and it hit me then that there were two unfamiliar scents in the air. She was worried over her friend.

“I only know where two are--our alpha will be here any second, and my brother is up ahead. We aren’t a threat, honest!” I allowed my voice to be shrill and pitiful, trying to shove it into this dogs head that we were not dangerous dogs. We never attacked unless provoked, Geoff was very stern about that. I released a breath of relief as her weight left me and I managed to climb to my paws.

“If you’re lying to me, I can promise I will make you regret it.” She took off in the same direction Kerry had gone, and despite my better judgment saying to wait for Geoff, I was hot on her heals.

Kerry was not too far ahead of where the stranger had tackled me. We reached her and a rusty colored dog in only a minute or two. There was no blood, and the rusty dog presented herself in a much kinder fashion. Where my stranger had a deep frown on her maw, the older woman was offering Kerry a smile. “Griffon, come on. That kid says there is an alpha nearby. We should probably get a move on because alphas don’t take kindly to trespassers.” I watched as the scarred woman gently pushed at the tattooed female with her head, attempting to direct her away. There was a lot of anxiety in her, despite the rugged look she had about her.

It was almost as if she was running from something she already knew.

[I L Y I C H]

I could hear the tones of a rugged younger female, and my claws dug viciously into the dirt under paw. Kerry was going to get himself killed one day. He was too trusting. Too gullible. Michael had almost talked him into a wasp nest once before he freaked out realizing Kerry was actually going to walk into the damn thing. Fucking Michael. Everyone had just up and fucking vanished. Gavin had spit all his guilt and supposed failures everywhere but neither of us knew where our bulimic friend and his two sisters had up and vanished to. So many things to worry about. So many things to fantasize over. My nightmares were more common now. AFter all what could I do to protect anyone here? I was one dog. One stupid fucking dog who couldn't even protect his family from each other.

Bidziil had spoken to me not a week ago about what was coming. Hell, even Skoll was getting anxious. Bleak. Why else would he take the sun for the reasons he had? Something about seeing each other. It was such bullshit. Folami needed to work together for what was coming. Humans were nothing but monsters. But they had created even bigger monsters with an even greater sense of stubbornness. Danger brewed on every breath of wind now, and I couldn't very well lower my hackles for anything these days. life was perilous. It wasn't just the achievement hunters that were in danger now. It was every friend I'd ever made. Humans went to wars in wholes and with little kindness. There would be no exceptions in this blood bath. If we didn't win then everything on this planet lost.

Fucking humans. Fucking Gavin. Fucking Kerry. Just. I just couldn't deal with all of this shit right now. I couldn't deal with very much stimuli in the first place but with all these added burdens I felt ready to snap at any given second. And man I didn't like feeling like this. I hadn't being impatient and mean with my family, but I couldn't restrain myself. Couldn't show the anxiety and fear in anything but snappishness. Sure it made me feel horrible but I didn't know how else to release the tension in my shoulders. The tension in my entire being.

So I stepped out of the shadows with my lips curled and my chest heavy with the sound of thundering anger. Sharp blue eyes focused on Kerry first, as the boy jumped to his paws and shrunk slightly from the excitement there before he'd seen my face. Oh god dammit. Didn't want to upset the kid. Didn't want to do anything of the kind, but fuck what else was I suppose to do? What did he think was going to happen if he ran into an angry stranger one day? Someone was going to get hurt and if that someone was Kerry the person who hurt him best hope they were ready to die.

Steal faced and unresponsive I flicked my eyes across the two rusty hued folami before me. Both held brands of prowess and I tensed further at the remarks they silently made. My eyes didn't focus on them though. My mind was too far away. Dangerous yeah, but everything was dangerous now. Everything and it's god damn mother. The sleeker one shifted slightly as I cast my head to question Kerry. It's friend had been trying to lead it away when I'd stormed into the scene. Normally I wouldn't give two shits but she'd stepped towards us. My bubbling growl ripped into a roar and I wrenched my head back to face the two females aggressively. "Miles. Take Kerry back home. Don't stop anywhere on the way back I don't know if it's safe."

[Bhu ♥ Irwin]

Shit. Shit. Shit.

We hadn’t run fast enough. Or at all. My mother hadn’t even tried to leave. I didn’t know if she recognized the scent but it was branded in my memory. They both had been, but I had thought my mother was dead so I had dismissed the memories during our first encounter. It had hit me reasonably fast, though. Geoff, on the other paw, I had not watched die. Much of my mind had said he was still alive. I had held onto that thought for so long in the rink. Until I broke. I let the idea go when I finally let myself be what I was supposed to be. But just because you bury something doesn’t mean it is gone.

I responded to his aggression with a strong wave of my own. Any hint of retrieval fled. I needed to hold my ground and hope to Skoll Geoff was too lost in his own life to recognize us. If I simply ran my mother would know, if she didn’t already. I would fight Geoff. I had myself convinced that I was okay just having my mother back. Lips drawn and ears sitting back, I watched the thin child push carefully into the three-legged one. I heard him desperately try to convince his friend that they listen to Geoff and head on home. “Yeah, don’t want the children to fight. Skoll-forbid they get an owey.” I sneered it mockingly. I saw the one I had personally tackled flick his ear in my direction, but he paid me no more mind than that. He would not feed into my taunts, not proud enough to risk his friend to protect his own image.

I turned crystal eyes back to Geoff before carefully flicking my gaze back away. I could not risk looking him in the face. I needed to get my mother and me out of here as soon as possible, because surely she would try desperately to make him recognize her. And then what? A happy reunion? The very thought hurt me. They could have all the joy in the world and that would only leave me alone again. I had to swallow the plead, come on, man, you clearly have a life here. Let my have mom. Just the one dog, let her be mine. My gaze narrowed in agitation. You can’t have her back. I forced my eyes to his again, hoping the hate there would be enough to mask over what used to be an innocence he knew so well there. I wasn’t his Millie anymore, so why should he recognize me.

Why did I feel that maybe my heart was hiding something from me? Recognize me, daddy.

[I L Y I C H]

Lips curved and claws sunk into the earth I swept my heavy body forward, moving in an attempt to place myself between these strangers and my kids. The thin older one backed up, ears back. Disbelief shined in those eyes, and I growled low in my throat in response. Good. Let the idiot realize that everyone wasn't a pretty little puppet up on their little podium. I wasn't waiting on anyone to pull my strings. Rounding on the one with the burned face I drew my lips back to show as much tooth as was physically possible. When I spoke my voice was sharp and high as it always was, but with enough violence sunk in it to drown. "God forbid a couple of strangers sweep out of the woods and kill a pair of kids." I sneered back, hackles ruffed up and shivering. "God forbid I have to explain to my pack how a pair of strangers ended two young boy's lives for no reason at all." Tail lashing, cat like in it's mannerisms I skulked forward, placing my nose as close as I dared, glaring down the end of it into eyes that seemed to refuse to look me in the eye. "God forbid I have to look my son in the face and tell him I couldn't protect his friends from the monsters."

Furious at the sarcasm the girl had brought up, I stared hatefully at those pallid blue eyes. Disturbingly naggingly familiar blue eyes. The more agile tattooed woman had moved forward sharply, her own lips curling as I'd approached the younger. Glorious. Tipping my nose just slightly I eyed the woman bitterly. "So they do program loyalty now? Thats new. Wish that had been around when I was a kid." The woman recoiled slightly. As if I'd attacked her physically, and my curiosity shot suspiciously into the air. No. I wouldn't let my damnable need to be a know it all sink me into any more trouble. Not now. Kerry was resisting Mile's attempt to pull him away. If those two kids got hurt I would never forgive myself. So many things I couldn't forgive myself for now. Just a big ol' pile. Shit just kept getting stacked up on top.

The smaller boy put up the last of his fight, muttering angrily under his breath for my ignoring of his little stupid plight. One ear tugged after the slow procession backwards, eyes staying focused on the women. With the boys on their way home I glared all the harder. "Now. You two are going to walk, and I am going to follow you until I'm sure you won't be coming back." Harshness locked down my words. Familiarity was crossing through my veins, but I didn't have any damn idea why. Facilities were funny places though, and Skoll knows I could have met hundreds of other dogs while I had been in one. Wild dogs too. A thread of thought brushed against my concionces. No. Not possible. Hope sprung up for half a second before I smashed it under every ounce of anger I held in my body. Even if it was possible it didn't matter now. Both of them had marks on their bodies. Marks only given to good loyal hounds. Monsters. They might as well be dead.

"Move."

[Bhu ♥ Irwin]

I sat my ears back in fury, blue eyes following the children as the Doberman convinced the stubborn tripod away. I shifted nervously, masking over it as best I could. The children could very well send back up, so it was best we begin our escape. I looked back to my father aggressively, turning my body slowly to just push off, dragging my mother if need be. He didn't want us here and I had no reason to stay--if we moved fast enough he wouldn't have to tag along for long, either.

I paused midstep, a harsh fire pushing into my heart, acid burning my throat. His words settled into my focus. "You have a son?" I bit at the words as if they were poison on my tongue. Neck fur bristling, traveling down my spine, I turned to face the man with venom in my gaze, pressing my nose to his should he allow or be taken off guard. "So, what, you just got up and dusted yourself off? Griffon and me are forced to fight for our lives and do unspeakable things while you move on like we never existed?" Pain mixed with the fury as I held out my chest and sent daggers with my eyes. I lost myself in the agonizing sense of betrayal, blind to what I had just done. It didn't matter, anyway. My father had a new family, what would he care about the old, broken one now? The ones with scars branding them and souls shredded?

I turned away from him, waving his tail dismissively. "I was right to hate you. I hated myself for so long because I thought I was being unreasonable in blaming you for what went wrong, but clearly I meant as little to you as I thought." I sent a long look over my shoulder, the anger only a broken shield in front of my hurt. "Just go home to your family, Geoff. Mom and I are big girls now. We won't bother you again."

I needed my mommy--I was done denying her. She never moved on.

[I L Y I C H]

Lips pealing back, I ignored the flare of shock. Ignored the hurt and joy fully. I'd distanced myself so far away from this subject that my mind would not accept it. Couldn't. And what did it matter anyway? These monsters weren't my family anymore. They'd made sure of that when they'd bowed so low to human kind that they allowed their bodies to be marked by their masters. "That little shit head forced his way into my life, and you know what? it felt good." Tail lashing straight up I lifted my hackles and snarled from the very pit of my chest, rumbling down to my very whiskers. "I looked for you. I tried to kill myself over it, so many fucking times but apparently it didn't matter." Disgust was starting to pool into my words, bitterness shielding me from what was sloshing blackly around in my stomach.

Seething I took a step back, lips curled and trembling. "You just tripped right on under their commands didn't you?" There was nothing in this world that I hated more then man kind. Nothing that turned me into more of a monster. Which was all I was. Trying to tear apart the thing that was tearing me apart. Because I could see her; such a young little girl. I could see the moment she was flung into the ring, surrounded and alone. Thinking I had abandoned her, because I had. Griffon. That was Griffon, and the ragged scar under her jaw proved as much. The rust pelted woman had stepped aggressively towards me, and I locked my eyes on her. "I did love you." I snarled it, staring into the tall woman's eyes. "Loves never enough though, is it?" Griffon curled her lip at me, jaws quivering in what I assumed to be a snarl and I almost laughed at the irony. The human's puppet couldn't even snarl?

Puppets. Was this all loyalty was worth to them?

"Enough." Ears lashed back atop my skull as the woman spoke. It was rough and hard on her throat, obviously, but familiar. A part of me begged the other bits to check on her. To demand if she was okay. if it hurt. Wanted to beg Millie to forgive me for being vicious. For giving into that nasty piece of me that defended itself with cruelty. I wanted to know how badly it had hurt my little girl to have those scars burned into her face. Wanted to rend the human who had done it apart. Yet it didn't matter. I couldn't feel any of those things. I couldn't even feel the inkling of pride that my wife and child had been better then most folami alive. All I felt was the heavy blanket of guilt and hatred rolling over me. I'd failed them, and this was what came of it.

"I said move."

[Bhu ♥ Irwin]

I tried not to let myself panic--the children had come to me for my ability to take things calmly, I was sure. Things had changed, though. My son's dismissal had broken my confidence, tattered the dog I had been. Perhaps that was a good thing--I had been a bad folami, something the humans could even be proud of. Family had lost its importance, Ray no more than an object to own and Joel the outlet to take my fury out on. Change was good. I kept my pace even as I flicked my ears to catch Geoff's angry sounding demand. I paused, lowering my body to remain hidden from the three. His tone said this was more personal than some violent loners trying to cause trouble on our lands. Miles had been rigid as he asked for me to go make sure Geoff was okay, reporting the invasion. I had gone simply to appease the frightened boys, thinking the threat minor if Geoff had not specifically called for back-up. Now I could hear there was clearly a reason.

"Yeah," clear, aggressive pain etched the words as I heard the smallest of the three shuffle slowly away from our alpha, "clearly I obeyed. You can just smell the reak of the pack all over me."

[/i] bitter sarcasm sat thickly, but clearly it was all to mask over the hurt. Pride was deep in the woman, she didn't want our alpha to see her weakness, but a flood can't be contained. There would always be a small little crack letting the slightest leak through. "I survived because I had to. I had something to fight for." Her tone turned sharp as I heard her head turn towards the older stranger. "We both did. I guess it was only each other, though." She didn't wait for her friend to follow before she broke into a run. I heard heavy pawsteps rapidly move away, growing faint she the youngest put distance between.

I weaseled my way from the cover then, slowly, cautiously, perhaps even a bit awkwardly. I was approaching on something emotional, a thing I had failed at time and time again. I eyed the remaining stranger skeptically, drinking in both foreign scents and narrowing my eyes at how familiar they were. I turned quizzical eyes towards Geoff, realizing the faintest edges of the child's scent was partly his own. "Miles and Kerry said you might need some help." I offered softly, keeping as much of my rugged tone smoothed over as best as I could. Geoff clearly didn't need a warrior right now, but maybe he'd need a friend. I looked to the rusty woman in silence, wondering if she had anything to say herself, or if she'd just run off after the teenager.

What could I do when thrown into a foreign place?[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size]