A chance trip [Attn: Duke, any]

[Squeeji]

Hallow was slowly creeping into nightfall, the twilight melting across the village like blanket. A shadowy fortune for those first venturing into the lands of man.

To those who had never stepped foot in a village it was a place of mystery, and to one young adventurer, it was such mysteries that had led him here.

When he was younger he was teased for being afraid of humans, and Hank knew better than that. He was scared. He was just too little, that was almost a whole month ago! The yellow male was just a pup back then, now he was a strong young adult.

He walked with comically exaggerated pride into the village, looking as though he owned the place, of course, it wasn't as though he entered the village proper, no, instead the slightly cautious pup kept to the outskirts, where the people did not overpopulate.

The adolescent was in high alert, this was no normal mission, there was danger at every bend, humans were dangerous! And every noise made the lanky male jump.

[Duke]

Slow down. Sniff. There it is again on the air, but I can not find it in the clay. The breezy evening pushes the smell away and I want it back. Dog smell. Cousin. I try to find a trail. Sneak here, hop there, smell that spot, then that spot. No spots on the ground, but there it is again on the breeze. I catch the direction and move for it, although I lose it just as quickly as the wind changes.

Now he's close. Exploring without marking? Scouting. I smell other dogs on him, but they are from the recent past. He is alone. The wind moves and he is sure to smell me. Perhaps I smell too much like the men who fed me for him to notice. I'm hungry, I have a frayed and knotted thing about my neck that I've tripped on more times than I care to recall, and I smell like human. (What could be worse? Ugh. Human Smell.) I want to approach the scout. Probably the hunger talking, telling me he can lead us to foods to chew. I miss chewing foods. Good foods from shiny metal cans and canvas sacks. Carelessly noisy, I trot into his range of attention.

[Squeeji]

Hank sniffed, though honored he'd be of being considered a scout, the yellow pup was no ranked dog. He meandered aimlessly, huffing and puffing at every little alien scent.

Though a bit ill at ease, he was pleased with himself, he had left his pop and Dean in Dante's Pass, since his father liked his brother so much more than he liked him. They could die alone as far as he cared. Knowing somewhat that he was sticking it to them only seemed to make him bolder.

He was teaching them. Hank puffed his chest out and walked head held high. The pup was growing complacent that there was nothing out here that could get him.

[Duke]

Nothing about the dog before me says threat. His nose ascritches round for smells but his tail awags and his steps are carefree. I don't recognize him.

He wanders aimless, but surely he knows I'm here. I move towards him huffing, tongue lolling, tail awagging. I catch his attention and gesture towards the food smells on the breeze.

[yue]

He didn't even really know what he was doing here...not really. Yue had spent a great deal of time away from Hallow in the year that had followed...well, it didn't matter. It had happened, it was over, and the sleepy town remained the same. The same wrought iron lamps, the same steep-roofed houses, the same faceless humans, going about their business. He was never here...The white dog felt the weight of his leather collar more keenly, but shook the feeling off. He'd only come this way to pass through, not linger where he no longer wished to tread.

Night had fallen, and his gossimar pelt shone in the lamplight as his frail form passed into its radius of illumination. Lanters...Yue had always held a fondness for them. Guttering flame encased in a prison of glass and iron, there was something poetic about it. Was the cage there to keep the fire safe, or was it there to keep the people safe from the fire? They burned so easily...

There was, however, a distracting oise, so much that it had the slim creature on his guard before he quite knew what he was being cautious about. Ah, there, not too far from his lantern's pool of light, there were a pair of dogs. Both young and cocksure, perhaps no older than himself, for he was a young dog as surely as they were. and in spite of himself and his better judgement he had to wonder just what they were doing, prowling about like that. It was nighttime in Hallow, and while Yue knew there were those who owned the streets, those who were very protective of what they considered theirs, he cared not. So why did these ones?

[Squeeji]

Hank leapt at the sound of the canine sneaking up on him. The young male turned quickly to note that he was being followed, sure he hadn't heard Duke right away but he certainly saw him now.

But the yellow pup wasn't going to back down, he arched his back and tried to bristle, and let out a very weak bark, he was no adult yet, so the fight within him was weak and laughable over being tough and foreboding.

After his outburst he paused, and wrinkled his nose, this dog didn't seem to be doing....well anything tricky or dangerous. Atleast he didn't seem an immediate threat. Hank huffed, and woofled, "Why were you sneaking up on me?" he grumbled, his ears still pinned back, his tone sounding more annoyed or mopey than angry.

[Duke]

Dogspeak. It was almost new to me, yet my thoughts followed the voice from his muzzle to a mutual conclusion. The only dogspeak I'd heard till now came in distant howls; simple cries for pain and joy, loss and loneliness; to string whole thoughts into dogwords was an exercise in frustration. As my belly growls again, I cock my head at this blond stranger and let out my most convincing retort of harmless curiosity. I know where the food is, I thought, frantically pushing this idea towards dogwords I can share.

In frustration I turn to exuberance, hoping a display of folly will suffice to display my harmless intention. I wag my tail extra hard and move to sniff the cautious blond before me. I notice from the corner of my eye a figure slinking through the distant lamplight. His footfalls are light and careful, and his attention is squarely placed on the two of us.

[yue]

The scent of the dog-pack lingered not on either dog, so perhaps that might have been pleasing to another stray. Yue, it seemed, was unmoved by this and every other development. Inscrutible and cold eyes merely watched the pair interacting, the first and younger questioing the second, who remained curiously silent. A mute, perhaps? Uncommon, but not unknown in the region. Or perhaps he was just shy.

The wolfdog padded a little closer, exiting the radiance of the lantern light with all the preamble of a sudden gust of snow. Warm as it ever got, even in the heat of summer, the night air always carried a chill. It also had the tendency to carry along Yue, or perhaps the opposite was true. Perhaps the cold wind followed its harbinger...another paradox, it seemed to him.

He trotted forward on silent paws, wanting a better look at the youngsters. The hybrid knew not why..perhaps he was simply curious. The mood had been known to strike him now and then, so why not this night of any others? Crystaline-blue eyes watched the pair, and perhaps his wild caution told in the way he stepped. This was no dog of man, no river could not be tamed so easily. And so the third paradox was the collar. He hadn't put it on himself.

[Squeeji]

A second dog joined the other, and Hank was starting to feel the slightest bit agitated, threatened, where were they coming from? The young male wasn't doing anything -wrong- and both dogs silence was more than unnerving to the sneak.

He woofled again, and took a hesitant step back, "I-I was just visiting...I didn't do anything wrong!" Hank wasn't a bad pup, be could be a little naughty from time to time, as any youth his age, but that was to be expected. Why were they creeping up on him like this?

The yellow male dipped his tightly curled tail a bit, he was getting overwhelmed, as the two bigger older males became to come nearer, their silence speaking volumes to the trouble he so believed he was in.

Hank almost wanted his little brother and pop back, atleast then he wouldn't be alone, the pup cringed and tipped his big head back, letting loose a fearful and reedy howl.

[Duke]

A howl from the pup and the figure in the lamplight was gone. We are up wind, and I do not smell the stranger. I bring pressure inside my ears to muffle blonde’s spooked howl and miss any sounds the stranger makes. Does he approach or circle or move away? My eyes are suffering in the twilight and caution steals my nature as I tense my haunch. Are my cousins so devilish they spring traps on their kin? Dog law is new to me; I may as well be human for my awareness of party behavior.

Not cornered, but trapped none the less. Open. Lit. Seen. Smelled. Known. This new figure; a reedy cry; a signal. Attack me? Hurt me? No. No command or plea, at least not directed to the new figure. I would appear by all means prepared to attack the young blonde, if not defend against the other assailant. Enough time goes by to bring the second figure in attacking, but he does not. Yet.

[yue]

His presence seemed to unnerve the dogs, causing them to either hunker down and whimper or howl their bravado in a vain attempt to drive him away. So young, such foolishness...The talkative one of the two even went to far as to speak to the white creature in a young and quivering voice. Clearly, they had mistaken him for a pack-dog, perhaps a scout doing his rounds or a well-meaning member inspecting the territory for outsiders.

Such was not the case, Yue did not belong. Too much dog to be considered a wolf, enough wolf to let every dog know he was not truly one of them, the river wound itself between and apart from both worlds, never remaining in one land for long. These young ones were not old enough nor wise enough to realize him for the outsider he was...no, they thought him a threat. Although he could have just as easily turned and walked away, the hybrid decided to plead its case.

"You misunderstand, little ones." His voice was breathy and airy, as though perhaps it belonged to the wind and not the wolfdog.
"I am no dog of man, I am an ousider, like yourselves. I intend you no harm...I merely came to observe. but I will go."

It was clear to him that these two were too jumpy and nervous to make passable conversation. And why not? They were all in danger of being found out for trespassing, the younger two obviously worried about as much, where the collared hybrid seemed as much at home here as perhaps they did wherever it was they claimed as their homes. A simple mistake to make, of course.

[Squeeji]

Hank, though concerned, worrisome and slightly unnerved was a still a plucky young male, and he seemed slightly insulted being called little one. When he got older, he'd be bigger than this stuck up old coot. "Huh, jeez old man, why did ya two creep up on me then?" the blonde bristled, the first, mute dog was older than the white male obviously, giving Yue a sense of being well...patronizing.

And Hank was no fan or stranger to the behavior, he stood up, and made himself bold, purely out of self righteous indignation. "So if you want to go and explore. You can either come with or not. You could have at least said something..." The pup rolled his eyes, the threat was gone...he was being observed...that sounded like something his pop or his brother would say.

[Duke]

There are things dogs know that people cannot. Old smells and sounds our parents knew because theirs did. We share sounds and cuffs with the polite strangers, but knowing friend from foe must come from a place beyond senses. Spooked as I was, it had become obvious these two belonged less than myself.

Explore. Food. Cousin. Brothers. I wag my tail in a deliberate way as if to say, I’ve found my very first cousins!

[yue]

It did not occur to Yue that these dogs were older than he. The way the other was behaving, he'd mistaken him for a large child. In fact, the dog was twice his age. How odd...perhaps there was something wrong with him? It was very unusual to find an adult dog who behaved so. He supposed he ought to apologize...but really what was the point. The dog hadn't taken offence to his assumption, only the younger one had.

Certainly indignant, this one was...Was there a purpose to it? Yue did not know, and did not feel it was his place to ask. It didn't matter anyways. These pups, for clearly neither was all that mature regardless of age, were fools. Yue merely used Hallow as a highway to other lands, snuffling about the territory of man's dogs was not necessarily a wise decision...but again, it was not really his place to say.

"I am not entirely certain the pack that calls this village its own would appreciate your exploration of what is theirs..." With that, he began to walk away. He'd clearly not made a good impression on this outspoken dog, better to cut his losses than to invite violence. Though half wild, the wolfdog was no fighter. Worse, he would be outnumbered, and so perhaps discression would be the better part of valour, for today anyways.

[Duke]

My wagging tail stops as the second figure moves away. Company is fickle. My cousins move apart and I do not want to choose between them. Empathetically I nod at the retreating wolfdog, cutting a circle in the snow in front of the blond. Checking over my shoulder for him to follow, I pad quickly after the wolfdog.