Post by Therdde on Jan 14, 2009 13:31:27 GMT -5
Characters:
Benny - Male Dog
Jage - Female Dog
- Willow Thicket -
Benny has not spent a lot of time around the dogs of Sienna, or any animals, really. He is still in the area, though. Just about a half hour's walk from where most of the Sienna dogs rest, Benny is curled up, quite happily daydreaming. That is his most pleasant pastime, and has been for, well, quite a while now. Where this new found solitary nature has come from... Well, that much is anyone's guess.
Prowling through the undergrowth with her nose to the ground, Jage picks up Benny's trail easily enough. With a slight smile she lifts her head and trots after him. He can't be far now. She's been sorely neglecting him - the dog who is the closest thing she has to family in this hectic wild life, and one of the only dogs she trusts. The elkhound snorts. How foolish, how irresponsible of her. True, she's made a lot of mistakes recently, but what can she do about it? Go back and bring Sketch back, or find Goliath before the cougar does? Foolish indeed. Well, she still has responsibilities, and she must face them. And she's facing one of them now, she thinks as she spies Benny's sleeping form.
Benny is no more wild now than they day when he lost his way during a chase. His ears twitch as they pick up sounds around them, but he does not abandon his daydreaming to examine their source. This carelessness is not borne of any lack of desire to survive, but simply of his docile, tame nature, of the way he differentiates between time actively spent hunting and time not spent hunting. Surely, his hunting skills have not suffered, if his healthy weight is any indication.
Jage pads up to Benny, taking care to walk quietly. She stands over him, watching him pensively. Look at him. How could she not have been watching out for him? Look at how easily she could approach, and so far away from the other dogs. She can only blame herself for dragging him with her, really. Though, she thinks happily, he doesn't seem to be in ill form. Lowering her nose, the elkhound prods at his ear and gives him a lick. She doesn't think twice about waking him up - sleep can be done any time, talking should be done now.
Benny comes to with a start, though it lasts only a brief moment as his eyes focus on the familiar face. His recognition of Jage is obvious in the sudden wagging of his tail and his grin. Whatever confusion at her proximity to him, given her general dislike for having others too close to her, stays far at the back of his thought process. "Jage! You look well?" It's as much a question as a statement. Yes, she is in much better form than the last time they really talked, but...
Smiling slightly, Jage draws her head up again, looking down at him. How happy he is to see her...her tail, too, gives a little wiggle, which is more than can be said for how she greets the others. "I am...better," she answers thoughtfully. "Better than I have been." And she looks it - not only does she look healthier, but something about her, perhaps her stance or expression, are reflecting the old Jage, the confident Jage, the Jage she was before all the drama in her life. She isn't completely just so yet, but...at least there's something. "And you have been taking care of yourself, Benny. I am proud."
It may not actually drive his behaviour, but the idea that he has made this older canine proud... Well, the thought pleases Benny, as well it should. His tail continues to wag, and he keeps his pleasant grin. He may have difficulty interacting with some of the other dogs here, but with Jage... Well, it feels less like he is separating himself from the life he should be leading, since they have a common background. "It's been easy. I like the summer." Much more than winter, anyway. The short-furred foxhound doesn't really get overheated much, and with food more plentiful, he /has/ had an easy time of keeping himself fed.
Jage chuckles softly, a slightly odd sound because of its infrequent use. "Easy for you, pup. I do miss the colder weather." She doesn't lie down, keeping an eye out for any threats almost unconsciously. For her next words, though, she looks directly at her friend. "I have come to apologize to you, Benny." She tilts her head, watching him piercingly.
Benny is just about to offer to do Jage's hunting for her when she says something that makes him much more confused than just how close she is to him. It is obvious in his expression, the furrowing of his brow and the fading of his grin, the tilting of his head, and his tone. "Apologize? What for?"
Heaving a sigh, as much from her emotion as from the heat, Jage flicks a glance back toward where the Sienna dogs tend to congregate. "For all I put you through since that night, Benny. Dragging you away, making you follow these...these dogs, this pack-" and from what she's heard, quite a turbulent one- "without so much as an explanation. Which you deserve at least. For not being in my right head for so long, and not helping you adjust." She shakes her head. It feels so good to get all that out of her head and into the open. She needed to say it, not just for Benny's sake but her own. After the little speech, she goes quiet for a moment, thinking.
Benny shakes his head rapidly. Were it not for his somewhat foolish belief that Jage needed him, he might not have followed her. He probably would have, but the point is that he had a /choice/. She did not /drag/ him anywhere. "You don't have to apologize for that, Jage. You were... Well... I didn't want to leave you, anyway." He might not have been around much to support her during her time of uncertainty, for his own troubles, but he did want to. What he doesn't want to do is mention anything that might upset her, since she seems to have come to terms with that dog's death.
No such self-censorship of conversation occurs to Jage, not anymore. If that is where the talk goes, then that is where it shall go. She isn't going to hide from it - that, as she's seen recently, only causes trouble. "I do. Had you left, I would have understood eventually. But you do not know how happy I am that you followed without question or bother. It is nice to have a friendly and familiar face around, even if just for the presence." The elkhound sits at last. "Especially for the presence. Young Goliath's death-" And she says it with barely a hitch to her voice- "has been weighing heavily upon me, as I am sure you have noticed."
Benny gives a little nod of his head. Yes, he has noticed. And now... Well, it may not be his place to say it, but he says, anyway, "That wasn't your fault either, Jage." Benny may often be very pup-like, but he is full-grown. That dog was large enough as well, though he might not have been fully-grown, for his species. Regardless, they are not pups, as Jage is fond of calling them. They can willingly, wisely, follow her advice, but she cannot chase after them as she might have for her own children, back when she had them.
"Perhaps..." Jage muses quietly. "I don't know if I could have stopped it had I been there. But if it had not been for me, he would not have been down in the fields in the first place..." She draws in a breath and lets it out in a great shuddering exhalation. "But that...it cannot be helped. I did what I thought was the correct thing at the time." She nods firmly, once. "Yes." No regrets, not anymore. Keep moving forward, don't second-guess. She couldn't have known the cougars would come so far from their precious mountains...
Maybe the younger dog would have been. Regardless, Benny doesn't think on it any further, since Jage apparently accepts what was really just meant to be a consoling statement. "So... What now?" The question is punctuated with a glance in the direction of most of the rest of the pack, making what he wants to know clearer than just the words would have. Will they still be staying here?
Looking back over her shoulder, Jage too looks in the same direction Benny glances. "I will be honest, Benny. I do not know." She sighs. "I must admit, I thought it would be pleasant, comforting to be part of a pack once more." She frowns, voicing at last a thought that has been on her mind since she snapped out of her funk. "But we...we are dogs, Benny. This pack, it is loose, it is confused. Together of desperation, not camaraderie." She looks back at him. "I do not know if you will understand this, Benny, but I hope you do. We dogs...cannot function properly without our humans."
Benny lowers his head to rest it on his paws. Of course he understands. He has tried to avoid thinking about it, though, since it's hardly as simple as just returning to his human. "We have to do as well as we can." Benny's tone reflects that he hardly likes the idea, but he accepts it as true. And, after all, it's not as though being out here has been completely without moments of joy and happiness.
"I know. I just do not know yet if being around an unstable environment is that." Jage casts another significant look back. "They are dogs, and there is strength in numbers. And they are mostly quite amiable." She sighs. "But to hear young Titan describe it, there seem to be some underlying currents that I do not like the sound of, that could be real trouble should they erupt."
Yes, they /are/ dogs, and that's considerably better than, say, Bodhi, or even the unpleasant Jolon. It's not difficult to tell he hasn't gone out of his way to try to integrate himself into this pack, though. He is here because Jage is here. "Whatever you decide to do, Jage... You have my support." Even if it is to remain with this pack for the rest of her life. If she doesn't, though, then at least there will be two of them, not just one, all alone.
Quietly, Jage pads around Benny and lies down next to him, just touching him with one paw. It's comforting to hear her friend's words. "Thank you, Benny. I will try my best to keep both our heads above water." She grins suddenly, poking him in the neck with her nose. "For now I would enjoy the company of my nephew again."
Benny returns her grin, lifting his head to nuzzle against her playfully. "I'd like your company too. I'll even promise not to roll over onto you." He hasn't moved close enough to touch her since that one winter night, the last night they regularly slept in the same area, so he really shouldn't have too much trouble keeping his promise. If she rolls onto /him/, though, all bets are off.
Jage chuckles again, giving his neck a playful little snap. Benny is the only dog - scratch that, the only creature - out here that she feels comfortable playing with, even if it is just in that reserved way she has. "Oh, is that right? I would not let you, even if I were deep asleep, pup." She emphasizes the word.
Benny's yelp is forced, every bit as playful as the promise he made, and with a laugh, he responds to her statement by trying to bump his nose against her. "You're just lucky I already promised, and I won't break it. It's obvious I'm way to fast for you to be able to stop me, even if you wanted to, Aunt." The title is uttered with a mischievous grin.
"Ohoho, he is becoming too cocky!" Jage laughs, letting him bump against her nose. She bats at his face with a gentle paw, shaking her head with an amused air. "Do not make fun of your elders and betters, Benny. You may be fast, but this old hound still has a trick or three hidden in her creaky brain."
Benny would not, even jokingly, deny that Jage is his better in a great many ways. What she says doesn't do anything to eliminate his playful mood, though. "I'll learn 'em sooner or later, and then you'll /really/ have to watch out for me." Chestpuff.
Leaning across, Jage gives him a hard nudge with her muzzle, aiming to push him over. "You'd best do that, Benny! I didn't spend my life hunting just for all of it to go to waste!" She smiles at him, even though her last statement has just filled her head with thoughts of her own children.
Benny offers no resistance, rolling over onto his side when she nudges against him and laughing. "Just remember, while I'm learning all of your tricks, you're not picking up any of those I caught over the years." Benny isn't the best at verbal sparring, any more than he could likely ever beat the stockier dog in a true physical fight, but he's enjoying the light banter. While Jage is thinking of the pups she has had, though, Benny has no such thoughts of his mother. Really, he remembers Jage better than he does his own mother.
Jage looks down at him, flicking her ear. He makes a good point. "The large prey is out again, Benny," she says thoughtfully. "When we are well rested, you and I shall go and try to bag ourselves some interesting game." Even just the thought of it excites the older hunter. A real hunt, even if it is just her and Benny. Perhaps she will invite some of the pack along, that nice young Titan, he could do with a lesson in real hunting.
How does one even going about trying to take down big game? The idea is foreign to him, and for that reason, more than any reason, Benny nods vigorously. He doesn't mind the idea of broadening his hunting skills under Jage's tutelage. "Good. I'm ready for something other than rabbit." The easiest, and hence his most common, meal. It almost seems like, even when his main diet was provided by his human, he had more variety than now.
Jage loves having such an eager student. This more than anything feels like old times, careless times. She gives him a lick on the ear, a deliberately heavy and motherly one. "But rest first. Big game takes a lot of stamina and power, and we shall need our sleep." Oh, but it shall be entertaining indeed, even if they catch nothing.
Benny nuzzles against Jage lightly again, once she licks him, then gives a smaller nod and says, "Okay." That done, he once more lowers his head. Will he actually sleep, with how stationary he has been most of the day? Not likely. Not anytime soon, anyway. He can go back to daydreaming, though, until he drifts off again, and after his response, he closes his eyes.
Lowering her head next to his, Jage huffs gently. Unlike him, almost as soon as her head is down her eyes are fluttering shut. Rest sounds like a very good idea right about now.
Benny - Male Dog
Jage - Female Dog
- Willow Thicket -
Benny has not spent a lot of time around the dogs of Sienna, or any animals, really. He is still in the area, though. Just about a half hour's walk from where most of the Sienna dogs rest, Benny is curled up, quite happily daydreaming. That is his most pleasant pastime, and has been for, well, quite a while now. Where this new found solitary nature has come from... Well, that much is anyone's guess.
Prowling through the undergrowth with her nose to the ground, Jage picks up Benny's trail easily enough. With a slight smile she lifts her head and trots after him. He can't be far now. She's been sorely neglecting him - the dog who is the closest thing she has to family in this hectic wild life, and one of the only dogs she trusts. The elkhound snorts. How foolish, how irresponsible of her. True, she's made a lot of mistakes recently, but what can she do about it? Go back and bring Sketch back, or find Goliath before the cougar does? Foolish indeed. Well, she still has responsibilities, and she must face them. And she's facing one of them now, she thinks as she spies Benny's sleeping form.
Benny is no more wild now than they day when he lost his way during a chase. His ears twitch as they pick up sounds around them, but he does not abandon his daydreaming to examine their source. This carelessness is not borne of any lack of desire to survive, but simply of his docile, tame nature, of the way he differentiates between time actively spent hunting and time not spent hunting. Surely, his hunting skills have not suffered, if his healthy weight is any indication.
Jage pads up to Benny, taking care to walk quietly. She stands over him, watching him pensively. Look at him. How could she not have been watching out for him? Look at how easily she could approach, and so far away from the other dogs. She can only blame herself for dragging him with her, really. Though, she thinks happily, he doesn't seem to be in ill form. Lowering her nose, the elkhound prods at his ear and gives him a lick. She doesn't think twice about waking him up - sleep can be done any time, talking should be done now.
Benny comes to with a start, though it lasts only a brief moment as his eyes focus on the familiar face. His recognition of Jage is obvious in the sudden wagging of his tail and his grin. Whatever confusion at her proximity to him, given her general dislike for having others too close to her, stays far at the back of his thought process. "Jage! You look well?" It's as much a question as a statement. Yes, she is in much better form than the last time they really talked, but...
Smiling slightly, Jage draws her head up again, looking down at him. How happy he is to see her...her tail, too, gives a little wiggle, which is more than can be said for how she greets the others. "I am...better," she answers thoughtfully. "Better than I have been." And she looks it - not only does she look healthier, but something about her, perhaps her stance or expression, are reflecting the old Jage, the confident Jage, the Jage she was before all the drama in her life. She isn't completely just so yet, but...at least there's something. "And you have been taking care of yourself, Benny. I am proud."
It may not actually drive his behaviour, but the idea that he has made this older canine proud... Well, the thought pleases Benny, as well it should. His tail continues to wag, and he keeps his pleasant grin. He may have difficulty interacting with some of the other dogs here, but with Jage... Well, it feels less like he is separating himself from the life he should be leading, since they have a common background. "It's been easy. I like the summer." Much more than winter, anyway. The short-furred foxhound doesn't really get overheated much, and with food more plentiful, he /has/ had an easy time of keeping himself fed.
Jage chuckles softly, a slightly odd sound because of its infrequent use. "Easy for you, pup. I do miss the colder weather." She doesn't lie down, keeping an eye out for any threats almost unconsciously. For her next words, though, she looks directly at her friend. "I have come to apologize to you, Benny." She tilts her head, watching him piercingly.
Benny is just about to offer to do Jage's hunting for her when she says something that makes him much more confused than just how close she is to him. It is obvious in his expression, the furrowing of his brow and the fading of his grin, the tilting of his head, and his tone. "Apologize? What for?"
Heaving a sigh, as much from her emotion as from the heat, Jage flicks a glance back toward where the Sienna dogs tend to congregate. "For all I put you through since that night, Benny. Dragging you away, making you follow these...these dogs, this pack-" and from what she's heard, quite a turbulent one- "without so much as an explanation. Which you deserve at least. For not being in my right head for so long, and not helping you adjust." She shakes her head. It feels so good to get all that out of her head and into the open. She needed to say it, not just for Benny's sake but her own. After the little speech, she goes quiet for a moment, thinking.
Benny shakes his head rapidly. Were it not for his somewhat foolish belief that Jage needed him, he might not have followed her. He probably would have, but the point is that he had a /choice/. She did not /drag/ him anywhere. "You don't have to apologize for that, Jage. You were... Well... I didn't want to leave you, anyway." He might not have been around much to support her during her time of uncertainty, for his own troubles, but he did want to. What he doesn't want to do is mention anything that might upset her, since she seems to have come to terms with that dog's death.
No such self-censorship of conversation occurs to Jage, not anymore. If that is where the talk goes, then that is where it shall go. She isn't going to hide from it - that, as she's seen recently, only causes trouble. "I do. Had you left, I would have understood eventually. But you do not know how happy I am that you followed without question or bother. It is nice to have a friendly and familiar face around, even if just for the presence." The elkhound sits at last. "Especially for the presence. Young Goliath's death-" And she says it with barely a hitch to her voice- "has been weighing heavily upon me, as I am sure you have noticed."
Benny gives a little nod of his head. Yes, he has noticed. And now... Well, it may not be his place to say it, but he says, anyway, "That wasn't your fault either, Jage." Benny may often be very pup-like, but he is full-grown. That dog was large enough as well, though he might not have been fully-grown, for his species. Regardless, they are not pups, as Jage is fond of calling them. They can willingly, wisely, follow her advice, but she cannot chase after them as she might have for her own children, back when she had them.
"Perhaps..." Jage muses quietly. "I don't know if I could have stopped it had I been there. But if it had not been for me, he would not have been down in the fields in the first place..." She draws in a breath and lets it out in a great shuddering exhalation. "But that...it cannot be helped. I did what I thought was the correct thing at the time." She nods firmly, once. "Yes." No regrets, not anymore. Keep moving forward, don't second-guess. She couldn't have known the cougars would come so far from their precious mountains...
Maybe the younger dog would have been. Regardless, Benny doesn't think on it any further, since Jage apparently accepts what was really just meant to be a consoling statement. "So... What now?" The question is punctuated with a glance in the direction of most of the rest of the pack, making what he wants to know clearer than just the words would have. Will they still be staying here?
Looking back over her shoulder, Jage too looks in the same direction Benny glances. "I will be honest, Benny. I do not know." She sighs. "I must admit, I thought it would be pleasant, comforting to be part of a pack once more." She frowns, voicing at last a thought that has been on her mind since she snapped out of her funk. "But we...we are dogs, Benny. This pack, it is loose, it is confused. Together of desperation, not camaraderie." She looks back at him. "I do not know if you will understand this, Benny, but I hope you do. We dogs...cannot function properly without our humans."
Benny lowers his head to rest it on his paws. Of course he understands. He has tried to avoid thinking about it, though, since it's hardly as simple as just returning to his human. "We have to do as well as we can." Benny's tone reflects that he hardly likes the idea, but he accepts it as true. And, after all, it's not as though being out here has been completely without moments of joy and happiness.
"I know. I just do not know yet if being around an unstable environment is that." Jage casts another significant look back. "They are dogs, and there is strength in numbers. And they are mostly quite amiable." She sighs. "But to hear young Titan describe it, there seem to be some underlying currents that I do not like the sound of, that could be real trouble should they erupt."
Yes, they /are/ dogs, and that's considerably better than, say, Bodhi, or even the unpleasant Jolon. It's not difficult to tell he hasn't gone out of his way to try to integrate himself into this pack, though. He is here because Jage is here. "Whatever you decide to do, Jage... You have my support." Even if it is to remain with this pack for the rest of her life. If she doesn't, though, then at least there will be two of them, not just one, all alone.
Quietly, Jage pads around Benny and lies down next to him, just touching him with one paw. It's comforting to hear her friend's words. "Thank you, Benny. I will try my best to keep both our heads above water." She grins suddenly, poking him in the neck with her nose. "For now I would enjoy the company of my nephew again."
Benny returns her grin, lifting his head to nuzzle against her playfully. "I'd like your company too. I'll even promise not to roll over onto you." He hasn't moved close enough to touch her since that one winter night, the last night they regularly slept in the same area, so he really shouldn't have too much trouble keeping his promise. If she rolls onto /him/, though, all bets are off.
Jage chuckles again, giving his neck a playful little snap. Benny is the only dog - scratch that, the only creature - out here that she feels comfortable playing with, even if it is just in that reserved way she has. "Oh, is that right? I would not let you, even if I were deep asleep, pup." She emphasizes the word.
Benny's yelp is forced, every bit as playful as the promise he made, and with a laugh, he responds to her statement by trying to bump his nose against her. "You're just lucky I already promised, and I won't break it. It's obvious I'm way to fast for you to be able to stop me, even if you wanted to, Aunt." The title is uttered with a mischievous grin.
"Ohoho, he is becoming too cocky!" Jage laughs, letting him bump against her nose. She bats at his face with a gentle paw, shaking her head with an amused air. "Do not make fun of your elders and betters, Benny. You may be fast, but this old hound still has a trick or three hidden in her creaky brain."
Benny would not, even jokingly, deny that Jage is his better in a great many ways. What she says doesn't do anything to eliminate his playful mood, though. "I'll learn 'em sooner or later, and then you'll /really/ have to watch out for me." Chestpuff.
Leaning across, Jage gives him a hard nudge with her muzzle, aiming to push him over. "You'd best do that, Benny! I didn't spend my life hunting just for all of it to go to waste!" She smiles at him, even though her last statement has just filled her head with thoughts of her own children.
Benny offers no resistance, rolling over onto his side when she nudges against him and laughing. "Just remember, while I'm learning all of your tricks, you're not picking up any of those I caught over the years." Benny isn't the best at verbal sparring, any more than he could likely ever beat the stockier dog in a true physical fight, but he's enjoying the light banter. While Jage is thinking of the pups she has had, though, Benny has no such thoughts of his mother. Really, he remembers Jage better than he does his own mother.
Jage looks down at him, flicking her ear. He makes a good point. "The large prey is out again, Benny," she says thoughtfully. "When we are well rested, you and I shall go and try to bag ourselves some interesting game." Even just the thought of it excites the older hunter. A real hunt, even if it is just her and Benny. Perhaps she will invite some of the pack along, that nice young Titan, he could do with a lesson in real hunting.
How does one even going about trying to take down big game? The idea is foreign to him, and for that reason, more than any reason, Benny nods vigorously. He doesn't mind the idea of broadening his hunting skills under Jage's tutelage. "Good. I'm ready for something other than rabbit." The easiest, and hence his most common, meal. It almost seems like, even when his main diet was provided by his human, he had more variety than now.
Jage loves having such an eager student. This more than anything feels like old times, careless times. She gives him a lick on the ear, a deliberately heavy and motherly one. "But rest first. Big game takes a lot of stamina and power, and we shall need our sleep." Oh, but it shall be entertaining indeed, even if they catch nothing.
Benny nuzzles against Jage lightly again, once she licks him, then gives a smaller nod and says, "Okay." That done, he once more lowers his head. Will he actually sleep, with how stationary he has been most of the day? Not likely. Not anytime soon, anyway. He can go back to daydreaming, though, until he drifts off again, and after his response, he closes his eyes.
Lowering her head next to his, Jage huffs gently. Unlike him, almost as soon as her head is down her eyes are fluttering shut. Rest sounds like a very good idea right about now.