Is there room in the Inn? [acceptance]

[Ina]

It was familiar, that is why he had come here. He could smell the delicatessens and the cooked meat. His stomach growled pitifully and the former tracker sniffed about. His head was low to the ground in the fashion of a scent hound, but it was an odd gesture for one such as he. He was a herding breed, a Belgian Tervuren. His shaggy chocolate and caramel body lurked along the border of the village. He had once worked alongside humans and other dogs. He had contact with them frequently and he was missing that aspect to his life. He had lived in a pack for so long that now realized that he needed a place to call home. The Hallow Village, he had heard said, was a pleasant town for dog and man alike. He wagged his tail at the prospect of a good meal and a warm place to sleep. Lükas wanted to be here, and what did he have that would benefit the area? He was a herder and a tracker. He was loyal, intelligent, and a great companion. He followed his orders without a compliant or ever asking why. It was with these traits that he hoped to get accepted into the pack. However, the first thing was to get the attention of a scout.

The dog stopped in his tracks. He stared at the crate a few yards in front of him. From it, he could smell the scent of meat. Again, his stomach growled. The male lowered himself and crept closer and closer. He smirked as his nose bumped the side of the wooden box. He could almost taste it. He then had a thought. Was this something he could do? Yes, he was capable of taking it quite easily, but that wasn't the point of his internalization. Was this was the right thing to do? No. His memories of the humans told him that stealing was an offense punishable by being thrown into a cage without food or water for several days. He had experienced that in his youth and the dog was not so apt as to do it again. He backed away reluctantly from the crate. Lükas was no fool. Young, yes, but he knew better than that. Besides, he didn't have the slightest clue as to open to the crate. He growled at it and then scowled. He sat back on his strong haunches and began to think. He then had a wonderful idea. The Tervuren stood up and then headed toward the nearest store.

A hefty man with hairy arms was handling a few armfuls of sausages. Lükas eyed them hungrily. He then put his plan into action. He walked up slowly to the man and then pawed gently at his leg. The man looked down at the dog. Its expression was sad and it was giving him the biggest, sorrowful brown puppy eyes he had ever seen. He reached down and stroked Lükas' head. The dog nuzzled the hand affectionately, licking at the meat residue left on the butcher's fingers. He stared at Lükas for a moment more than reached up and broke off a section of the sausage. Three or four links suddenly appeared in front of him and the dog snatched them up happily. He let the hang from his mouth as he trotted a short distance away and then laid down to claim his tasty prise. He devoured the meat within the minutes that followed and nodded. That hadn't been so bad. He wasn't one to beg, but he was in a new town and he had been hungry. Now, back the task at hand. Lükas got up and headed due east. He hoped that he would bump into a dog. His nails were clicking on the cobblestone and he was sure that his new scent would give him away. Now, let's see how right he was.

[Squeeji]

((Sorry I didn't respond right away Ina!))

A dog had to sleep! Stevie took her position as scout very seriously, and she worked all odd hours of the day, but still...she was the only scout she knew of, and well...a dog did have to sleep.

Which was exactly what the great blond mutt was doing now, snoozing casually under a sunbeam stretched out and generally smirking as she rested. If Lükas wasn't careful he could very much bump into another dog, literally!

Generally dead to the world the female slept, unawares of a new body in town, or the comings and goings of the humans around her. Even when some children stopped and patted her head, she sort of grunted and rolled over.

[Ina]

(Nothing to apologize for, Squeeji. It's cool ^^)

Around him, people were going about their daily lives. The Tervuren wagged his tail as a small group of children laughed. Perhaps it was because he had been raised with people, but he found himself at ease despite the hustle and bustle of the village. Lükas stopped and then double back, catching a whiff of another dog. He kept his head low to the ground as he followed the scent. It was certainly a mismatch appearance for the young dog. His head was low in the fashion of a hound, yet everything about him spoke of a dog bred for herding and hard work. Yet, there he was with his nose to the ground tracking down Stevie. He blinked as the trail suddenly vanished. He stared ahead, his fur pulled back by the sternness in his expression and created wrinkled on his brow. He glanced around, looking to the left and then the right.

That was when his eyes fell on her. Chocolate eyes scanned her sleeping form. He wondered if he should wake her up or if he should leave her be and wait nearby until she awoke. Lükas debated for a minute and then headed for her. As he got closer, one of his paws caught against the other. He stumbled at first and tried to remain upright, but as he was literally only a few inches away Stevie, he fell. Tripped would be more accurate, really. Lükas went face first into the cobblestone, his body thumping against the ground hard and caused him to groan. One of his shoulders impacted the ground, but the other hit something warm and fluffy. He turned his head slowly and noticed that he had partially landed on the no doubt startled female. The dog shook his head, mentally berating himself for being such a klutz. Lükas then sighed and began to sort himself out, standing somewhat stiffly and slowly, fully prepared to apologize for hurting her if he had and at least for waking her up from her nap.

"Oh wow, I'm just a klutz." He muttered. He then looked at the female. "I'm so sorry! Did I hurt you?" He was genuinely considered that he had harmed her and again, those wrinkles had appeared in his forehead and his ears were laid back against his head.

[Squeeji]

Stevie shot up with a yelp of shock, not too sure what was going on as some oaf fell on top of her. And while Lükas took his time getting up, Stevie darted to her feet with the sort of alarm that came from years of war games, barking alarm as she whipped around trying to focus on her attacker.

"WUH WUH WUH WUH!" The scout leapt around the Tervuren defensively, until she started to blink the sleep out of her eyes.

"Oh wow, I'm just a klutz. I'm so sorry! Did I hurt you?"

It took a moment of staring for the retriever mix to finally start recognize that the male wasn't a threat, just an accident prone innocent. "Wuh?" she tilted her head, and then looked herself up and down. "Um...yea, I'm fine. You?"

Of course, Stevie didn't really apologize for overreacting, but that was just how she was.

[Ina]

Out of the corner of his eye, Lükas saw the female dart to her feet. He watched her briefly, wondering how badly he had scared her and if she would attack him while he was down. He then sorted out his tangled legs. First his front feet where they lay crossed under him needed to be fixed. He moved one slowly and placed in below him. Then, he shifted the other and brought it to a similar position on his other side. The male stood up and shook, a little cloud of brown dust filling the area directly around him. He wasn't prone to taking a bath, and although he didn't reek, he was certainly quite dusty. However, it wasn't something that really bothered him. His chocolate brown gaze stared at Stevie, wondering if she had been able to react that fast because of something other than fright. He cocked his head to the side in curiosity. Then, she started barking an alarm and he closed his eyes tightly, opened them once, then blinked. She was still doing it, but she seemed to coming to her senses and realized that he wasn't much of a threat to her…or anything else for that matter.

"WUH WUH WUH WUH!"

She was fast, he'd give Stevie that. He knew that she was merely doing what any thoughtful creature would do. She was defending both herself and the pack from a possible intruder. Lükas lowered his tail until it nearly brushed against the cold ground below in a sign of submission and in the hope that the barking dog would realize that he wasn't going to hurt her. "Hey now, I mean no harm! I'm only looking for someone to accept me into the pack." He waited a moment and then pondered upon the rank of this creature in front of him. Was Stevie of capable rank to accept him? Little did he know that he'd stumbled upon a scout who could do just that. If this knowledge had been something he was privy to, than the Tervuren would have been glad of his luck -even if that luck sometimes made him accident prone and hazard to those around him- and smiled happily. Alas, this wasn't something he was to know, at least not yet.

"Wuh?" "Um...yea, I'm fine. You?"

He looked relieved, now that she'd come to her senses and realized that he wasn't a threat. He wasn't much a fighter and was better at running long distances than anything else. Her response was amusing a little smile appeared on his face. Lükas wagged his tail in a friendly manner and then replied to her, watching as she cocked her head in the same way he had just done a minute or so before. "I'm alright. Nothings hurt too badly." The dog had a few bruises but he'd live and he healed pretty quickly anyway. "My name is Lükas, but if you want, you can call me Luke." Sometimes, other animals had trouble saying his name thanks to the strangeness of the accent. He smiled kindly at her and then sat down, bowing his head respectfully.

[Squeeji]

The cloud of dust that Luke kicked up made Stevie sneeze, shaking her head as she tried to back away from the offending allergen. Well, at least she was pretty sure that he wasn't from a rival pack, the herding dog was no doubt some dirty stray that had come from some farm off somewhere.

"Where you from?" Stevie didn't really mince words, she wasn't about to make niceties since he did point out he wanted to be part of the pack. Seemed best to get down to business. "...Luke." she finally just sat down, seemingly relieved that he wasn't a threat.

Stevie smiled and wagged her tail back at Lukas. "I'm Stevie, one of the Scouts of Hallow." she looked him up and down, sizing him up for just a moment, only because the alphas trusted her to make sure any dog that wanted to join Hallow was trustworthy. "Just wanna ask some questions...y'know...to make sure you aren't dangerous or nothin'."

[Ina]

He gave Stevie an apologetic look when the cloud of dust he whipped up caused her to sneeze. He smiled sheepishly as she backed off a little. He hadn't thought to take a bath before coming to the pack. He honestly hadn't known that he was so filthy. Now that he knew, he was embarrassed for not noticing before. "Sorry about that, miss. Guess a grungy stray like me doesn't really have much a need to be too clean. I'll take a bath, soon, I promise." Had he have been human, Luke would have shaken her hand and saluted.

"Where you from?" "...Luke."

That was the first question. She didn't seem the type to really make much of small talk. Briefly, he wondered if he was talking too much and making a fool of himself in front of her. Where was he from? That was easy. "I'm from a nameless human settlement deep in the forest. I was trained there to be a tracker, which is kinda strange seeing as a I am supposed to be a herding breed and all." He was glad to see her sit and likewise, the dog sat down. He had been traveling a lot and frankly, his feet were more than a little sore. He couldn't help the relieved sigh that he gave off as his rump came into contact with the ground.

"I'm Stevie, one of the Scouts of Hallow."

"Nice to meet you Stevie." Here, he inclinded his head in a slight bow. It may not have been anything major, but he was showing his respect for the female. Luke saw her give him a once over and then did the same to her. She was pretty, slightly tomboyish in appearance, but he didn't mind. She wasn't unattractive, but she gave off the feel of someone strong. He wondered what she thought of him and if he had made a good first impression. That was always important.

"Just wanna ask some questions...y'know...to make sure you aren't dangerous or nothin'."

"Me? Dangerous?" He laughed. He had never hurt anyone or anything. Yes, he yelled at his mom one time, but who didn't have little disagreements with their folks. It was what parents and their kids did. "Alright, what do you want to know about me?" Luke was trying to show that he had absolutely nothing to hide and that he was harmless.

He hoped it worked.

[Squeeji]

The scout shrugged with a bit of a smirk as the dog apologized for his grime, "Naw, don't worry about it." Really other than the fact that it had caught her off guard, it wasn't as though she was offended by a little dirt, back in the day, it was the only way to keep the fleas from biting.

"I'm from a nameless human settlement deep in the forest. I was trained there to be a tracker, which is kinda strange seeing as a I am supposed to be a herding breed and all."

"Oh...right, I suppose." Of course Stevie didn't know the difference from a herding dog to a sight hound herself, to her a dog was a dog, but she pretended to understand what Luke was saying, even though she failed at length. "So...you're pretty familiar with humans then...?" she trailed off letting the male answer.

So far she didn't see any reason why he couldn't be a member of Hallow, seemed nice enough, good disposition, and well, humans like friendly dogs, and he seemed human friendly enough as far as she could tell.