Stormy and dark night

[yarrick]

Yarrick remained perfectly still, gazing to the somewhat horrified chubby orange and white husky in front of him, who was still holding his composure a lot better then he had thought he would. The orange one remained still in spite of having the look of someone who wanted to run.

Yarrick couldn't blame him; he was hardly in the most comfortable situation either. Since he had gone in deeper, it was likely to get hotter for him then the orange and white who would nevertheless start feeling the heat as well once the pipes started carrying boiling hot steam again.

He cringed slightly as one of the two men started shoveling coal into the boiler. The other one adjusted some of the knobs which increased the flow of steam from the boiler into the pipes as the fire became hotter.

All the black and white husky could do is lay as flat as possible to stay as far away from the pipes as he could as the temperature increased. Steam hissed from small cracks and valves around him as the boiler heated, but Yarrick remained perfectly still, the sound of the two dogs panting heavy was more then drowned out by the crackling fire of the boiler and the hissing steam.

Yarrick struggled to remain conscious, and what was only a few minutes seemed to be an eternity underneath the boiler pipes.

At last, the two workers closed the boiler door and cleaned up, their idle chatter drowned out by the hissing of steam as the two men walked off, single file out into the narrow corridor.

The second man noticed the broken door but didn’t pay close attention to the manner of its unhingment. “Damn storms” he muttered to himself- he would deal with this problem in the morning, already upset he had to be disturbed in the middle of the night to refuel the boiler as it was.

Yarrick sighed in relief as the two men exited but he was not out of the woods yet. He was still trapped in a very warm place by his companion who blocked his exit.

Exhausted from the heat, Yarrick managed to inch his way forward enough to nudge the other husky with his nose. ”Come comrade, let us depart. It be hot here, Da?” Yarrick managed to break a weak grin in spite of the grim situation.

[speedy]

Speedy's body trembled within the heat, the warmth passed Sauna's obviously, but soon his muscles begin to relax, his counciousness begin to fade away but he tried to stay awake as long as he could, it would take a miracle not to fell asleep or into darkness with this heat. He panted and let out a short whine as one valve sprayed some hot steam near his face. His fur was getting hotter and would easily dry up completely, his tongue hung almost against the floor as he panted the hot air to his lungs that begin to burn in agony.

Speedy's head finally laid down to his forepaws his panting too heavy, his oxygen supply was getting burned and some light flashed across his eyes. He whined a little though the men couldn't hear it since they operated the boilers. Growling weakly the heat was bearlable. "Hyvä Jumala..auta minua..." he whispered softly and very quietly. Suddenly he heard the men exit the door- though he was tired, exhausted by the heat, his mouth dry, his body hot. He was falling to uncounsciousness.

”Come comrade, let us depart. It be hot here, Da?”

Auds perked up as the orange ball crawled out from the boiler, he ran quickly out from the building to the cooler air, at once when the cold air brushed against his fur his body begin to steam. He panted hotly and tried to find somewhere something to drink, his thirst was huge. Those few minutes felt like a never ending torture, that was close to his health- for the future he would avoid such a hot spots- expect Sauna- what he loved.

He expected that the Russian husky would come from the building as well, perhaps he would go his own routes and leave him alone there to stand and whine. Speedy still had a major problem, hunger...his stomach was empty and snarling for food, he didn't know where to get any food though...

[yarrick]

Yarrick bolted out from behind the furnace, right behind the orange husky, whom was understandably only thinking of getting out of the boiler room as fast as possible.

The damp cool night air was incredibly refreshing; enough of a temperature change that even the weathered husky felt a chill on his spine when he first entered the night air. But it was a refreshing chill. He saw the orange Husky standing there panting, then sniffing the air as of looking for food.

Yarrick did not quite hunger as the orange husky had, though after a rough night he could certainly use something. His muscles starting to shake from lack of real sleep in the last 24 hours as well. He ignored this of course up to this point, but it was already taking its toll. Being trapped behind the boiler for what seemed to be hours didn’t help any.

He was used to years of scavenging and fending for himself- getting by on what he could and in some cases even hunting small game. It was clear that the newcomer was not at all accustomed to the art of scrounging for food.

Yarrick trotted next to the orange husky, and while tired himself he showed a lot less visual cues that he was tired, and regained his rank-and-file order, at least for now…

”You looking for something to eat, da? Doubtful you find Pierogi here or whatever you Finns like....”

Yarrick tried to think. He was from Eastern Russia far south of Finland. When he was “employed” they were too busy trying to deal with… internal matters. He knew little of that area, nevertheless the cuisine. He merely shrugged.

”Scraps on the other paw are plenty here. Some fresh, some not so fresh. All depends on day of veek, and time”

He sniffed the night air hmming. He was just starting to get used to the smells of the harbor, and while he was not nearly as accurate as the scavengers that had spent their entire lives here, he was starting to be able to pick out some of the more fresh scents. The dampness of the recent rain made this more difficult however.

He finally got lucky, and picked up the scent of a bakery, which likely was getting fresh breads baked for the morning load. This also meant that they were likely also disposing of the day-old bread they were unable to sell at the end of the night. Not much, but it’s a start. Its not meat, nor cheese, but it will tide them over till morning when men would bring meats and chicken back out of storage into the marketplace….

”Come, comrade. There is Pekarnja nearby. Not much, but best we find until daybreak, Da”

With that, Yarrick trotted off towards the abandoned market and the one building that was busy with activity this early in the morning: the bakery.

[speedy]

Speedy's paws carried him weakly forward as he panted a little, the fresh cool air felt good for the first time in his life. He enjoyed from it by pressing auds against his skull and rising his head to accept a breeze of wind stroke his face. His hunger however kept him still- "perkele" was only whisper he made before looked around

”You looking for something to eat, da? Doubtful you find Pierogi here or whatever you Finns like....”

That snapped in the patriotic husky's head. He growled a little "Ya ruski? Knock off mocking Finland, way better than Sosialistic Soviet Union" he told to the husky with a snap- in this case it might have been true what he said since there where still heavy incidenses with the other groups. Sighing he looked around before looked at the husky that caught a sweet scent of floor- warm bread came to his mind- what could it be? Husky wondered a little looking around.

”Come, comrade. There is Pekarnja nearby. Not much, but best we find until daybreak, Da”

Silently husky nodded his head and leaped after Yarrick he was sure that the husky could lead him somewhere at least, a bakery. Speedy's paws slowed the pace a little as he looked around the abandoned market. He saw the activity- there was no doubt- a one building with oves on twenty four seven. The bakery. He grinned a little- there would be found some bread but only meat would satisfy them both completely, chewing on a dry bread would be very- dry business.

"Erh your sure that we wish to chew on bread...? We can always try to find food from the dumbsters-ergh never mind they are always raided" Speedy's suggest would be stupid, always the dumbsters that had something good were eaten already...

[yarrick]

Yarrick shrugged, as he padded off towards the Bakery with the younger Husky behind him "Best ve vill find till morning da? It vill last until fresh comes in the market then. Not much for meats around until the market is open, da? he smirked a little. In a few hours the market would be open and fresh meats, cheeses, chicken would be all hung out to dry ready for the pickings. But for now this would have to do.

Yarrick climbed behind a crate next to the bakery and waited for the baker to come out to dump out the bread and pastiries leftover from the last day.

Some of it stale, some of it not so stale, the best bakers generally had the reputation of needing to keep their breads as fresh as possible so a lot of bread that was still good was thrown out each morning as well, that was not stale and merely a day old. It was just a matter of sorting it all out.

He waited for the baker to finish dumping his discarded bread into the alley, easy pickings for animals but the baker didn't seem to care. Atleast someone ate the bread even if most of it would go to the seagulls shortly.

Yarrick glanced to the other husky then nodded once the Baker turned inside "Bystro, before the gulls get here, lets get our share, da?"

It wasn't much, but it would have to do. The seagulls would be picking apart the bread soon, so yarrick darted out to the pile of bread. Sniffing at what was still good and what was stale and moldy. He glanced back to the Orange and white as he chewed on some bread that was still realtively fresh

"leave the stale for the gulls, da? The rest, dig in."

[speedy]

Speedy stared at the bakery, the fresh smell of bread made his mouth water even more. He sighed, the hunger took over and he would raid the bakery if he had to- alone or with the husky. It would be easier to know the husky's name by now but he haven't told it yet, only thing he does is to call him a comrade.

"Best ve vill find till morning da? It vill last until fresh comes in the market then. Not much for meats around until the market is open, da?

He smirked. The small snack attracted him enough. "Yes...but are you sure...? What is your name uhh Comrade?" husky asked quietly with a slight whisper since he was unsure if the Ruski would tell his name to him- he doubt that he would. Though now that he was ontop of few creates. He saw the baker come from the back door and that made Speedy to go behind the create's to stay in ambush. As the bread fell to the ground he smirked- smart pull from the Russian dog.

"Bystro, before the gulls get here, lets get our share, da?"

His shout caught his attention. He looked up at the male and then at the bread. He then quickly followed him as he went up to the breads. Sniffing few of them he smirked "No time to be picky, chew and eat- it doesn't matter how bad it is, it should satisfy our stomach's tovaritshi" he told her and then quickly sunk his fangs to every bread naerby collecting some of them to his mouth. He had to take as much as possible before the sea gulls would come. His last words didn't ring caught his attention at the moment. He already had dug in.

Bread by bread he chewed down- as soon as the seagulls striked in the fighting started. Speedy growled at the savage birds and tried to save as many breads as possible to fill his stomach for few hours at least. He finally had enough from one seagull who seemed to be the bravest from all of them. He snapped at it grabbing a hold from its neck, feathers flew around as the seagull made out from his grab and slapped him with the wings. Speedy took one large bread and withdrew from the area.

"Toveri we don't have any time left, wef mustf go!" he muffled to Yarrick and quickly ran out from the valley few seagulls knocking his head trying to get him to drop the bread- those savaged birds fought hard for a dinner- even that there were two dogs- there were tens of them...

[yarrick]

Yarrick was already sorting out his share of the bread when Speedy devoured his. He could afford to be more picky- he was hungry but not starving, and knew that better stuff would be available come daybreak. He managed to find a few pieces of fresh bread to eat before the gulls came.

Then came the swarm of gulls, which ascended upon the two dogs like locusts. Yarrick managed to snatch one with his muzzle and kill it, which only made the gulls more enraged at the two dogs.

He had some experience hunting small game in the wilderness, but there were too many of them to deal with. Their only choice was to flee, being chased and pecked by the un-intelligent mob of angry gulls.

He ran with the shorter husky into an alley behind the bakery where a few discarded crates would make adequate cover from the relentless birds. He backed into one, and was now safe from attacks from the top and behind. Any gull stupid enough to try attacking his front would meet the same fate as the one now laying at his feet, his prized kill.

After several minutes the swarm finally gave up pecking unsuccessfully at the crate that hid the Husky. He sighed and layed down, poking his head out and glancing towards the Orange Husky.

“Name is Yarrick, and you- Comrade?” Yarrick gave a slight grin. He liked the young one, even though they did not yet fully trust each other but they worked for mutual gain of survival. He disliked ones that were overly trusting; he found it as a sign of weakness. If they were too eager to help him for nothing in return, it unsettled him.

[speedy]

Speedy panted as they came to a halt behind the creates. He dropped the bread piece to the ground and looked up at Yarrick before behind him turning around and preparing to fight along with the Russian dog- not fully trusting the bigger male still- after all it was always Finland vs. Russia and Speedy was pretty patriotic after he fought a little in the Civil War. Slowly he lowered himself closer to the ground preparing to bite and slash any gull that came. After Yarrick killed one of them rest of them caused slight damages to his body, only small cuts and that's all.

When nothing came he slowly relaxed and looked down at the juicy bread, only day old, ah perfect to start a night he was just about to bit down to the bread when he felt the gaze on his neck. “Name is Yarrick, and you- Comrade?”
Was he either deaf or stupid? Only thing that rang in Speedy's mind since he have told his own name for few times by now. "Name's Speedy Toveri"

All what Speedy said before he bit down to the bread. He chewed to it leaving small pieces on the ground, however he licked them away, typical soldier- always hungry. He slowly looked up at him and then around- they had had slept already a while god knows how many hours but it wasn't much. The orange ball of fur was already a little tired from all the running. He yawned once and looked around lazily. "Shouldn't we find another comfortable place to sleep? It would be wise to sleep in a more safer spot than the boiler room my butt hair almost burned" Speedy told to him with weird accent- Finnish accent, after all his English skills weren't the best

[yarrick]

Yarrick was a lot more tired then he would like to admit, he didn’t have the pup like energy or stamina he used to- he just pushed himself to stay up longer then he should.

The end result was his body gave him no choice in the matter, before Speedy could suggest to find a better “more comfortable” place to sleep he had already found his empty crate cozy enough, and fell asleep.

Snoring came from the otherwise empty crate, his prized kill still latched underneath his front paws.

(sorry for the long delay on this one. My internet acess yesterday was spotty, at best)

[speedy]

Speedy's eyes rested ontop of the male as he has already fallen asleep. He frowned and quickly bent his body next to the create ontop of the male was sleeping, he let his body lay down and curled up as a ball of fur which was orange and white. His body finally curled up.

Wasn't his day today he supposed but at least he made a Ruski friend which was the biggest bonus of the day- he noticed that not all of them were soviet fanatics or anything like that- red murderers like some calls them. He shut his eyes- as a Finn he felt safe- however he was missing the boat that would take him back to the father land of his- he was highly loyal to it...

(sorry for NOT BEING POSTING HERE! =(]

[yarrick]

(Hey not a problem, I understand. This week has been busy for a lot of people it seems.

I think this is a good place to wrap up with this post for now- I did have fun with it I will work on a post this weekend that can include Speedy in it if you want, or you are welcome to start a thread as well )