Lookin' for Goods (Bandersnatch, Any)

[Shantik]

(Since you asked to come along, Bandersnatch. You still wanna join this thread?)

A slim, quite lithe little mutt crept stealthily through the town, her eyes open for goods. Ok, so the nice, oblivious Alphess dog wanted her to steal something from the locals...alrighty, then! But what? That she hadn't quite defined, and there were so many good things around here just waiting to be picked up...but which should she go for?

Shantik was never one to look for a specific thing. When she saw something shiny, she'd go after it in a heartbeat. But tin cans didn't look like something that would buy her acceptance into that dog pack. If only she had a guide or something...

She stopped by a pair of trash cans in an alleyway, wondering what to do next. She could topple the cans and search for something there...but that would be a lousy way to steal something. It'd be noisy and there probably wouldn't be very good things in there. She sighed and kicked back a hind leg in frustration.

A loud clatter and a hard hit on the head told her what she'd just done. She looked down at the offending tin lid and snarled at it, rubbing at a bump on her head where the thing had hit her. She turned around and pouted at the trashcan, almost like she expected it to say 'sorry'. Finally, she sighed and frowned.

"What to do...what to do..."

[Bandersnatch]

Fluffy ears perked at the sound of tin clattering against cobblestone.

It was a sound that so often marked the raiding of trashcans, particularly if there was something of interest. It usually meant food - a prospect that would attract any dog.

The currently rather scruffy Shepard-Terrier mutt rose to his feet rather slowly, stretching out a leg behind him. The stretch slowly traveled up his spine and after a moment's tense pose broke out into a full-body shake. A small cloud of dust fled his fur, floating gently to the ground. Ever since his owner had died, nearing a year ago, Teak had not seen fit to take any sought of good care of himself. At least improvements in his foraging and stealing skills kept him decently fed now.


It didn't take long to track the clatter's origins. A lid lay by some dog, rubbing her head and looking rather annoyed. Teak raised an eyebrow, and loped over. He was practically looking over the other shepherd cross' shoulder before discovering the rather disappointing lack of food. The expression that crossed his face was decidedly crestfallen.

"Nothing?[/b]" He mumbled, stifling a yawn. "After all that noise?[/b]" He shouldn't have bothered getting up, he thought bitterly, and had already started to seriously contemplate turning back to his conformable pile of rags. Maybe some of his body heat would even still remain in them.

[Shantik]

Shantik turned at the sound of the other dog's voice. She flicked her painful ears and smiled, standing up and leaping in the air. Maybe this one could help her find something! She wagged her tail and replied. "Well, see, I was just lookin' for something interseting! Someone said that I should go steal something from here in order to get accepted, and then I came down here, looking, and I couldn't find anything, so I got frustrated and kicked the can, so really, I wasn't trying to get anything out of it, it's just quite hard to find anything really interesting around here."

She took a deep breath after goig through her explanation quickly and without taking a breath. She panted, then looked up again, cocking her head forward. "By-the-way, wha's your name?"

(Sorry it took so long for me to reply...school...is killer...*is a freshman*)

[Bandersnatch]

Teak backed up quickly, surprised by how quickly the female had jumped about.
And then she spoke...

The smaller scruffy mutt staggered back further still, surprised by the onslaught of words.
He pulled his ears back as though each word was yelled into his ears. Well, they almost were. He'd only picked up on a couple of things, but at least he had caught the end. Or at least he thought so.

"Urm... Teak?"[/color]

He tried to remember, or maybe that was decipher, what she had said. Something about stealing? "Are you... uh... hungry?"[/color] He paused for a moment, scrunching up his nose. "Interesting? But food is food, isn't it?"[/color]
The thought that she might want to steal something other than something edible had never even crossed his mind. His naivety was perhaps best explained by the oversize and ancient leather collar that dangled from his neck.

[No prob Take your time.]

[Shantik]

"Teak?" Shantik cocked her head to the side, running the name through her head. Nope, she didn't know him. She smiled and flicked her big ears and shook herself, then turned back to the dog. "I'm Shantik! And I am a...little hungry..." She said excitedly, but much slower than she had before.

In truth, she was quite starving; she couldn't remmeber when she last ate. She frowned as her stomach let out a mighty roar. She folded back her ears and grinned sheepishly at Teak.

[Bandersnatch]

Teak felt more at ease as he straightened himself up, grateful that the other dog seemed to have settled down. It didn’t appear that she’d cause him damage, he decided, accidentally or not. It didn’t stop him eyeing her off, not completely convinced that she was ‘all there’. Shantik, huh?

He gave a small cough, uncertain what he was supposed to do. He was hungry himself, the reason he’d be drawn over in the first place. Not that that was surprising – dogs were always hungry. Finally he mimicked a sheepdog, Enya, that he had run into on his recent rounds, breaking into an unconfident tour-guide spiel.
“There’s the butchery, the fishmarkets-”[/color] (he tried very hard not to make a face – he hadn’t liked raw fish much) “-the bakery…”[/color] he paused. Was that it? The ones that were always there, at least. “And there’s another place, but the human there likes dogs even less than the people at the other place.” [/color]

[Shantik]

Oooooo! A tour guide! Shantik grinned and listened intently, not wanting to miss a word of what the other dog was saying. She didn't want to miss out on some juicy bits of information! Butchery, fishmarkets - Ugh, Fish? Nasty! She could see from the not-quite-hidden look on Teak's face that he didn't like it either - Bakery, and another place. What's Another? Is it a new type of food? Or maybe just the name of the place. Another Place! Yeah! But it didn't sound that appealing, so she decided to ask about the...

"Butchery." She shuddered at the thought of getting some meat in her gut, so long as it wasn't chicken; raw bird didn't taste good. "Where'd that at? Are the people nice? Are there other dogs near there? How do we get in? Is the meat good? Do they have ham? Is it free? Do we have to steal it? Is it all dirty and mucky and all? Is it fresh? Do they have dog treats?" She finally took a deep breath, and was almost ready to start another round of questions.

(X3)

[Bandersnatch]

[Gah! Sorry, forgotted D:]

This time Teak caught the glitter in Shantik's eye that had previously announced the onslaught to his tender ears. He leapt back sharply, just as she erupted into words.

"Butchery."
Teak exhaled the breath that he had held. Maybe he was wrong...
Nope.

He tried to listen, he really did, but the words just kept coming at the speed of light.

"Where'd that at? Are the people nice? Are there other dogs near there? How do we get in? Is the meat good? Do they have ham? Is it free? Do we have to steal it? Is it all dirty and mucky and all? Is it fresh? Do they have dog treats?"

"I... uhh..."[/color] The scrawny mutt cleared his throat, but where she had many words he had none. "Uhh..."[/color] He stuttered weakly. Finally, he gave a gentle snort. "Yeah... we gotta steal it and... I think they have ham? Lots of the people with decent food to steal here hate dogs though..."[/color] That was true enough. Plus the butcher had those big knives, and if they could cut through the strung-up carcasses that easily... He gave he a blank look, at a loss of what else to say.

Well, at least with the two of them it'd be easier to grab something to eat. He glanced about quickly, checking his bearings as the buckle of his collar chinked gently.
That way... he turned to face east. They were rather near the western edge of the village, and Teak wondered if she was from Hallow... "It's um... this way."[/color] He looked at her to see if she would follow. With a look back, he began to trot his way to the butcher.

[LOLZ. I don't think I'd be able to RP such a hyperactive char]

[Shantik]

(^-^ Kinda hard to come up wth the barrage of questions at times, but mostly I just type random things, and somehow, it fits. O.o)

Shantik leapt forward, running circles around Teak, her energy anything but spent. It was a dissapointment that they HAD to steal, but it didn't dampen her spirits none. Once she was with another dog, she livened up remarkably. It was hard to see her sad at these times. Especially for one that had never seen so much as a frown on the youth's face.

"Ok! So your name's Teak, and I'm Shantik, and I'm a shepard mutt so what are you?"

Her question/statement was as innocent as a puppy's whine. She blinked, smiling, paused in her circles around him to see an answer in Teak's face. She green eyes glowed, glad that her words were a bit slower. Last time she'd spoken, he'd seemed caught off guard by the speed of her words.

[Bandersnatch]

“Ok! So your name's Teak, and I'm Shantik-”

Teak gave a quiet snort. He thought that was already clearly established. At least she was talking slower and thus making sense now.

“- and I'm a shepard mutt so what are you?”

What did that even really mean? He’d heard it before… there were dogs that looked different - that’s what it meant. Did he even know? He’d never really cared before – to him they were all simply dogs.
He watched the flash of brown-orange in silent thought. Why was she running around him anyway? His golden eyes narrowed, somewhat frustrated. It was really unnerving – how was he supposed to think of what he was supposed to say while she was doing that. It was hardly any better when she stopped to look him straight in the face, practically nose to nose. Somehow her big smile wasn’t comforting, especially after considering how much she towered over him.
It took him some time before he finally answered.
The blue-grey mutt grunted, only partially covering the uncertainty of his answer. “The same I s’pose” [/color] She looked sort of like the little he remembered of his mother, at least.

He’d barely noticed that they were already approaching the butchery. The streets were quiet this morning, and they’d barely passed any human on the way. It was only the strong smell of salt, smoke and fresh meat that alerted him that they had arrived at their target. He paused, turning his head sharply to check Shantik was doing the same.
Turning back, he slunk to the storefront and peered through a dusty window pane. There was the butcher at the front counter, serving the day’s first customers.
A gentle ‘hmmm’ escaped Teak’s throat. Best to speak up before she barraged him with questions again.
“Around the back.” [/color]
He thrust out his muzzle, an attempt to both point out and usher her into the narrow laneway neighboring the butchery, barely wide enough for two dogs to walk along side-by-side.

[Shantik]

Shantik cocked her head in confusion. Fo sure, this blue-silver-colored dog looked a lot different than her. And shorter. But she ignored the differences, respecting them instead. She smiled and stopped running circles, calming down mostly because; and soley for this reason, that she was simply out of energy. She sighed, realizing too that he didn't seem to appreciate her over-energized attitude.

She stopped at the butchery, licking her lips as the strong smell reached her nose. She shuddered, trying to contain her want for food. Watching Teak, she understood his order, but wasn't entirely sure she wanted to follow it. The front looked so much more interesting! But deciding that disobeying a probably reasonable order wasn't smart right now. She nodded and walked around the side, waving her tail slightly as she kept one eye back on Teak, watching for some sort of signal.

[Bandersnatch]

Teak shuffled quickly, cautiously along the tiny laneway. Reaching a tight corner, he turned about it, nose to the cobblestones. No hints of dropped pieces or scraps this morning. It seemed it would not be easy, when he noticed something. The big old door on the back of the store, worn and weathered and splattered in the brown shades of years-old blood, was hanging open.

“Through here…” he whispered sharply, not looking back. [/b]

It was like stepping into the doggy equivilent of a chamber stuffed to the brim with sparkling treasure. In the low light, skinned and strung up carcasses glistened red, the very last bits of their blood dripping every so often to the flow. All kinds of overstock hocks and limbs – fresh and smoked – littered benchtops.

The smell alone was enough to make Teak drool and his stomach gurgle loudly in complaint that he wasn’t already digging in. So often on his trips here he’d only managed to steal scraps of meat from the street or a passing basket – a chance such as presented now was rare. They’d have to go for something small if they wanted a chance for a quick getaway – something to big would simply weigh them down until the butcher found them. Teak pulled his ears back and glanced around to look for Shantik, feeling somewhat nervous as to what reaction the hyperactive shepherd-cross would have.

[Shantik]

Shantik squeezed past the corner and saw the door hanging open. Teak must've already gone through it. Seeing the splattered blood on the wood, she gulped, wondering if some of it might be dog blood.

Then she saw the room.

Shantik, unlike Teak, didn't see any problem in taking a big peice the second she stepped through the door. The minute her eyes had fixed on the largests, plumpest, wholest half-smoked ham, she dashed forward, hidden from Teak by some of the other bloody bodies in the way. Snatching the huge thing, Shan started pulling it down with the borrowed streagth of her brute-like work-dog ancestors. There was a crash and she came into full veiw with the huge prize, grinning. To her naive mind, she'd done nothing wrong at all. In fact, she could see herself being awarded for finding such a jiucy, tasty meal.

[Bandersnatch]

Teak's head flipped to and fro, desperately looking for Shantik. Where was she?!
His question was awn sered in the worst way possible.
He somehow managed to jump and wince at the same time - Crashes and clashes, and there she was, a huge ham matching her huge grin. Teak's ragged fur stood on end and he stared at her, unbelieving, in a wide-eyed panic.

"Quick! Move!"[/color] There was a number of huge knives in here, and he didn't plan to be on the end of any of them.
He snatched up the other end of the ham, though it was made highly awkward by their rather large height difference. Still, the teamwork would make for a slightly lighter load, as long as the previous factor didn't slow them. He tugged at it gently, making to run.

[Shantik]

Shan cocked her head, confused at the expression on Teak's face. What did she do? Seeing him grab the other end of the ham, she started for the outside swiftly, smiling and wagging her tail, near dragging the ham, and Teak with it.

When she reached the door, more clatter reached her ears and she turned, curious. "Whashat, teak?" She growled through the touch hide.