Self Navigation [Firedance, Squeeji, Any]

[Donn]

It was quite welcome to Tricker that the rain had started, the grey, overcast weather had been overhead all morning, as if waiting for the perfect opportunity to start spitting down water. It made it easier to trael, Tricker preferring colder environments, though anything apart from heavy snowing he would call 'warm'. The previous night, Nightblood, a sentry of Arnlan whom Tricker had met first in a graveyard, then at the borders of Arnlan itself. He had travelled with her almost immediately afterwards, and in a confusing state of affairs, Tricker had lost contact with Nightblood and her other companion, Ziko. Bewildered, and quite upset with his loss, He had spent the night wandering through the forest, trying to find either of them, before having to give up to rest.

Now he found himself amongst the built environment once more, that being through a wide, stone laid path, with the dwellings belonging to them on either side. Fortunately, they were averse to rain, so Tricker was left alone, quite fortunately, as his bright orange marks, with black "X"s on his sides, his ears and the stripe of orange on his black tail usually made him something to stare at, at times. Today, he was, in his own words 'Resuming Self-Navigation', though he understood not to go back to Arnlan. It seemed they didn't want to accept him after all. As he wandered down the road, his bright yellow eyes turning this way, then that way, he found that he did not have a single idea where he was. As well as that, the sea, something Tricker had never seen before, had just come into view. He was so surprised he stopped, and just stared at it. The port had a fair swell, and and Tricker was amazed by the great, grey rolling waves. Wherever this was, it was sure to be interesting.

[skye]

Skye was trotting cheerily along the seafront, tail in the air, ears forward. She was on one of her daily rounds of the small port of Rakine, but so far this morning her search for activity had proven itself to be fruitless. Still, the young dog was undeterred by the lack of interest which that world had shown her this morning, and her eyes were as open and watchful as ever, ready for action should the occasion arise. Skye's gait was a tall, strutting one, as her young mind brimmed with all the pride of being an invaluable asset to the canine community of Rakine.

Skye followed the seafront so that she had almost left the confines of the village, as she felt that a thorough examination of its environs was of the highest importance. She jumped off the man-made wall she had been trotting along and onto the sandy beach, and dislodged a small pile of sand as she landed ungainly. A couple of discarded fishing nets lay in the line of debris that had been washed up by the sea, and she bounded up to them, nose set alight by the feast of fishy smells that they held. As she delved further, she found a small morsel of rotten mackerel concealed within the net. Skye was suddenly overtaken by an intense desire to dig through the net in order to retrieve the fish, not because she was hungry, but because this was a small treasure that had been hidden for her, and it was not her duty to dig it out and rescue it.

A chilled breeze ran from the wilderness beyond Rakine towards the town, and as Skye dug, a peculiar scent reached her nostrils. It was like nothing the dog had ever come across before, and at once she forgot all about her previous mission and switched her full attention to finding the source of the smell. Unfortunately, she had forgotten that her paws had become entwined in the nets as she had been digging, and whilst trying to leap away across the beach, Skye landed ungainly on her chest, paws sprawled out in front of her. Chewing desperately to free herself whilst simultaneously trying to run across the beach, Skye spotted the cause of the dreadful smell.

This doesn't make sense. As Skye neared the black figure, she realised it was a wolf. It was the only strong-smelling thing in the area, so the smell must have come from it. But wolves don't make that kind of sniff. Skye pondered over the thought as she bounded fearlessly towards the wolf, a big grin spreading across her young face. Something like this was what she had been waiting for for weeks, and her heard pounded with excitement. She skidded as she stopped beside of the wolf, who seemed to be staring out to sea. Padding round to face him, Skye introduced herself.

'Good morning, Mister! Welcome to Rakine, it's, uhh, a bit boring. But it's okay. I'm Skye. Where are you from? We don't have a wolf pack in Rakine, you know.'

[Donn]

It was only when the young dog had come within about a metre of Tricker that he heard and smelt her, his poor senses already confused by the muffled sounds of the sea, the sprinkling of rain, and the scent of salt and fish. Surprised by the sudden appearance of Skye, as it introduced itself, Tricker stared at it. It was a brown, female pup, with a big grin on her face. She asked him where he was from, but also now Tricker knew his location, Rakine. it wasn't much more than a name at the moment, Tricker inteneded to find out more about it. "Self identifies as Tricker. Originates from... unidentified location." Tricker looked around. "Skye, is your identification? Explain, Skye, purpose of this establishment." By that, Tricker meant 'What is this place?'. It appeared Skye was not hostile. That was a welcome from the threatening demeanour of the wolf he'd met in Sallin, and the odd abandonment of Arnlan. Tricker looked back at Skye, peering at her face intently.

[Squeeji]

It was day like any other, nice and gloomy, a good day for a prowl, a good day for old ghosts to billow in and out of the mindseye. The large shuck all but lurched from place to place, a blank tortured expression on his ghoulish face.

~Where are you going? Why do you bother? There is nothing here in this life for you...end it.~

A nagging voice in the back of his head made his lip curl, but he ignored it, muttering under his breath at it made its accusations. Murk would find himself indebt to any who would distract him from his waking nightmare. With a few small huffs, it seemed perhaps he might find such a beast, a smell, deadened and cold. It smelled as he felt, and the old monster was quick to be drawn to it.

With a loping gait he followed the sent, which as he went became two, one was more lively, a pup...a young female, but that was irrelevant to his interests. Most dogs about this era avoided him like a scary story, which was probably for the best. When he found what he was looking for, he eyed the situation cooly.

~What is it mutt? You think you'll find yourself a kindred spirit? Knave! IF you're lucking this beast will tear your throat out and leave ya for the gulls!~

Murck sneezed, not liking what he heard. But even in his drowsy half aware state he saw the tan little female, and the black and orange wolf. The source of such a odd smell.

"Oi. Wut ov'this?" His accent was as thick as peasoup and half as clear, and while all of his actions and words were considered threatening, he didn't intend any danger, he just wanted a moment to talk to this stranger, the female on the other hand, was familiar, not soundly, her smell was like that of the self proclaimed alpha bitch of these territories.

[skye]

Skye cocked her head to one side as she listened to the wolf's strange speech, and in particular his choice of words, half of which Skye had never heard before in her life, let alone understood. But cheerful little Skye was undeterred, and desperate to fulfill her duty, not least to hopefully improve Faline's seemingly low opinion of her. She had little fear of wolves, despite what she had heard about them in her short life, including many a sad tale about curious dogs who had unwittingly passed the borders of the evil Sallin pack, and besides, this particular specimen didn't seem to be a normal wolf. He's not very lively, she thought to himself, unaware of Tricker's scientific alterations which had rendered him a most unusual wolf indeed.

"Self identifies as Tricker. Originates from... unidentified location."

Of the few recognisable words that Skye managed to pick out of thw wolf's sentence, she heard what she thought was a name.

'Tricker? That's your name?' Skye, pressing her muzzle into the Tricker's face, was so excited to have encountered a stranger in these parts that she was unaware that her body language might have been a little intimidating for the wolf. 'And where are you from?' Skye knew that this was the second time that she had asked this question, but the first time round she hadn't been provided with an answer she understood, so she tried again to see if there would be any luck the second time.

Skye then became aware that a third party had joined the two, and turned round to see that it was Murk who had come to see what what happening. Skye viewed Murk as somewhat of an oddity- he seemed benign enough, but still had a certain strangeness about him that her young mind couldn't decipher.

'Look, Murk! A wolf!' Skye shuffled back to allow Murk to inspect her findings, brimming with all the excitement and pride of a puppy who had just managed to kill a small insect.

[Squeeji]

"Look, Murk! A wolf!"

The haggard old male nodded. "Aye, that e'is...wut ov'eet?" Tricker was that, though not a normal one that was for sure, he smelled of old death and looked like shambling corpse. "Dun crowd 'im pup...ulfs ar'wild beasts...an' needin' ov thur space." He scolded Skye, not that the other male seemed dangerous, but it was right rude to annoy a new and interesting guest.

"Listen careful lioke...an'you'll be able t'understand 'im." There, he did the stranger a bit of a good deed and felt perhaps he had avoided Skye getting her pretty little hide in trouble.

~You and your idlebrained softspot for young ones. Pah!~

The male grumbled, and kept a eye on both pup and wolf, waiting for a response from the odd animal, though he didn't sit still as he did so, his large body rocking from side to side, as though we were still on the deck of a ship. Murk ran his tongue over his ragged yellowed teeth and yawned.

~Bored?~

"Yes." He responded to no one in particular.

[Donn]

'Tricker? That's your name?'

Tricker backed away a bit as the pup became closer. She behaved rather curiously, and pushing face into his was unexplainable to him, and probably dangerous to her, he thought. She also found her questions important enough to be repeated.

'And where are you from?'

It wouldn't be the first time someone had not followed his speech, and Tricker, who had always listened carefully to what others were saying, tried to use a different set of words to express himself. "I... cannot... know." he said slowly, trying to work out if that was correct, and shook his head. "Does not know." he corrected himself. "Incapable... of answering yourself's query." He had been so concentrating on speaking in different terms, that he failed to note Murk's appearance until Skye introduced him herself.

'Look, Murk! A wolf!'

The male spoke, and not much of it made sense to Tricker, it was a strange way of speaking the dog had. He couldn't decipher most of what was said, but decided more important matter ought to be sorted out. Seeing as he doubted communication would be effective with the dog, whom now was swaying from side to side, muttering to himself, Tricker returned his attention to Skye. "Is it possible... that self might.... be permitted to remain in location: Rakine... for a period... of chronological movement?" Realising this might not be understood too well by the young pup, he tried again to use more common words. "Er.... a period of... times. A period of time." He decided he'd like to stay in this place for a while, at least until he could settle on where else to go. Arnlan and Sallin both sounded unlikely, and he didn't know many other places, save the graveyard.

[skye]

Skye bowed her head in embarassment as Murk scolded her- the last thing she wanted was to scare this stranger away, especially as he didn't seem to comfortable in this place anyway. Sitting back on her haunches a few metres away, she cocked her head to the left in bemusement, her face creasing into a frown. This wolf was very strange, very strange indeed. She'd never met a wolf properly before, but she was sure that this wasn't how normal wolves acted. And that horrible smell.. is that what all wolves smell like? Skye mused to herself.

'Listen careful, loike.' Skye shot Murk a hurt look out of the corner of her eye; she did try to listen to what people were saying, but sometimes there were situations when her concentration levels were not at their peak, this being one of them. Still, as the stranger spoke Skye's ears pricked up as she tried her utmost to decipher what Tricker was saying.

'Sorry', Skye muttered under her breath.

Tricker seemed to have realised that Skye's vocabulary was not quite as wide as his, and the pup managed to pick up at least the general ideas that the wolf was trying to put across. He wants to stay in Rakine? Skye asked herself silently before speaking out loud, just in case she had got the wrong idea and said the wrong thing. When nothing more was spoken by the wolf, she decided to air her question.

'You want to stay here?' Skye's tail wagged at such an exciting thought. She didn't know of the general etiquette regarding wolves, and thought only of the advantages that having a wolf in Rakine could bring. 'Murk, can he stay? Please?'

[Blackfeathr]

((Mmmmay I join with my character Armageddon, or are we all wrapped up here?))

[Donn]

((Unless there's any objection from the others, I'd be happy for you to join. ))

[Squeeji]

((Feel free ^^))


"Eeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhh." The old dane was pensive, he wasn't exactly used to being asked permission for anything, he blinked his yellow eyes and stepped up closer to the wolf, sniffing again at his strange scent "Welp...ah dunno iffn' Faline would be keen on eet." though a bad old mutt, he had a heart for those out of place...especially the young and the broken.

Murk's face was as readable as a book, concentrating and waffling on his opinion on the matter. "Bawt, its easier t'ask f'giveness than permission eh?" He'd answer to the old alpha bitch later for this he was sure. "He'll 'ave to stay off port side...t'make sure 'e dun run into Faline...an' th'umans...they dun take much love t'wolves...nor strange animals...an' no 'fense thur Tricker, yous be a strange wolf...n'lie."

The big shuck flashed a ragged smile and a hearty laugh. "We'll 'ave t' find im somewhare t'live...an' whare 'e'll get food...mayhaps get em a' colla...make him look petish...since he dun look lioke no dag." Murk was smart when he forced himself to be, but tended to have no inner monologue.

"Wha' ya think...eh...? Skye? Trick?"

[Blackfeathr]

Cold and sopping black bangs hung in front of a young wolf's face, with bright emerald eyes grazing the strange port full of very strange creatures.

He remained in the shade of the trees, his dark form nearly invisible, save for his bright irises. He only moved when some human children bounded his way, playing a particulary intense game with sticks and walnuts. He darted away and walked out into the clearing.

He seemed invisible amongst the mass of adult humans working and child humans at play. In their eyes, he blended in with the dogs.
But with the dogs and other creatures however, he stuck out like a sore dew claw.
He could feel their stares, but when he looked, eyes from all corners averted away. He gave a grunt and moved on. He was used to it.


In his neck of the woods the stares would be for a different reason, that being that he was the scourge of wolf, the end of their world as they knew it. He was known as the Seed of Evil, the Spawn of Hatred, the Feared One, the Devil's Child. They knew the father that cared for him wasnt his real father. His real father is thought to be Evil in the corporeal form of a wolf. His real father brought devastation and despair on countless packs throughout the area.
They all looked at him in scorn and anger. After all, who could blame them? This male had an uncanny resemblance to his father, with a solid black unkempt pelt and an emaciated, bony, lanky structure. Save for his brilliantly emerald eyes, the eyes of his mother, a docile alpha female who was the unfortunate victim of the forcebreeding his father unleashed on her.
The adolescent only wanted one thing. He wanted to prove everyone wrong. He would not be the demon-seed everyone rolls their eyes about and whispers to their children about. He will not be evil. He will live a normal life. He will forget about his marked past, and move on to a brighter future.



No, these dogs and creatures here in Rakine Port weren't staring at him for this reason, of course not. It was because he looked like a very large, starved dog.

He twitched his head to the side to get his wet bangs out of his vision, the better to see this land better.
In his peripheral vision he spotted a three interesting creatures gathered together... the only real sign of order in this whole port.

Tilting his head he picked up his pace. When he neared the group he gave a warm smile that spread, albeit crookedly, up his muzzle.

"Hello." He said, voice cracking with adolescence.

This was a new start, a new day. These three did not know of him as the scourge of the lands, the demon-child, or any of that crap.


He would be known only as Armageddon.

[Donn]

"Self shall... assume that as an... affirmative, to remain in Rakine." Tricker smiled slightly, "At least... for the moment." Tricker's orange coloured ears flicked. Ever so slightly, he'd heard it, and a new scent, faint, but it was detectable. Someone was coming, and Tricker concentrated, determining the speed and weight of the object. Not very heavy, not nearly as much as NightBlood had been, not very fast either, the timing of it's steps indicated walking pace. Tricker didn't know if the dogs were doing any better than he in senses, so he spoke again.

"Medium, inbound. Medium-vibration inbound contact." Tricker muttered, staring at the ground, listening as hard as he could to the sound, and slighlty increasing scent behind him. He'd failed to notice the arrival of two of these dogs, he wasn't going to miss a third. It seemed not being in a pack had at least made him pay more attention to his surroundings as best he could. He turned around, and his 'medium contact' spoke. A simple greeting, though it's voice appeared impaired, though not at all as much as Tricker's hoarse, quiet speech. He did not speak. He was feeling a little bit edgy now, the three of them there in close proximity. The last time he'd been in a lot of company was with three wolves in a forest, one of whom had been a friend, and another a mute. In this less familiar environment, he wasn't so comfortable, and so took about three steps back, just to widen their proximity. It was easier on his vision as well, to see them all at the same time. The new wolf in question nearly as tall as Tricker, younger, and also had black fur, too long about his eyes, though of course without Tricker's loud orange highlights. Tricker stared at him blankly.

[Firedance]

Skye had a vague idea of what Faline's opinion on Tricker staying in Rakine would be, but the young dog was far too full with excitement to concern herself with things like that at that moment. Skye's head was quickly filling with plans for adventures she and Tricker could share together, and so pleased was she at the thought that she almost didn't notice the presence of another wolf.

This particular one didn't look very healthy, in fact he made Tricker look like the epitome of well-being. Skye noticed a certain dark aura surrounding the wolf, but being young and lacking in concentration skills, she didn't dwell on the thought too much and instead bounded up to the newcomer as he uttered a greeting.

'Wow.. I mean, hey, are you a wolf? What's your name? I'm Skye, I help out around here.' Skye loved greeting newcomers and was sure that this warm welcome was just what they loved to receive. She then remembered that she had forgotten to introduce the other members of the conversation, and carried on. 'This here's Murk, he's big but he's okay, and this is Tricker. He's new, like you.'

[Donn]

[Squeeji? Blackfeathr? Hello?]