Another World [open]

[Cocaine]

The forest was quiet; all except for the morning birds singing a beautiful song. A gentle wind rustled the tops of the trees ever so slightly, bringing a warm summer breeze into the wooded area. Not many creatures stirred at this hour; just the birds that sang the morning's song, and one other animal. It was an animal that was a decent size, standing at about two and a half feet tall. The animal was definitely female, which anyone could tell by looking at the way she moved, gracefully picking her feet over the ground, or by the gentle way that she smelled. Her fur was pure white and beautiful, groomed to perfection by said female. She trotted swiftly through the forest, hardly making a noise, and not at all breathing hard. That was what she was built for: speed and stamina. She could go for long periods of time at half to full speed without taking a break, long being a couple minutes, of course. Who was this lovely femme? You should know that her name was Cocaine.

Cocaine trotted easily through the forest, panting slightly because of the hot air that surrounded her. She wished that she were someplace cooler. Someplace that she could be comfortable, but no. She was in the south, and, in her opinion, it was the hottest place in the world. Her nose was lifted, scenting the air for any animals that might be out and about at sunrise. She could smell many birds, but she knew that they were all far too high to even worry about. There was the faint smell of rabbit, but she knew that he would be long gone by now. She sighed, her milky brown eyes examining the forest around her. She had been on the move for a while now, and it would be good for her to find some kind of water source; a puddle, stream, lake, anything would work.

It wasn't long before Cocaine finally did find what she was looking for: a wide stream with shallow water flowing down it. She trotted gently over to the running water and bent her head down to lap some of it up. It was cold water that ran easily down her hot, dry throat, chilling her body slightly. Water: One of the best things to happen on this planet Earth. She thought as she drank, keeping an eye out for any predators or prey. It was starting to get lighter out, and she hoped that with the coming light, there would also be the coming of prey, but the more prey that was out, the more predators, and she really wasn't looking for a fight right now. She rarely ever was, but they happened, unfortunately. Cocaine sighed and entered the water. It was very shallow, just barely covering her paws. Oh how she wanted to just be a pup again.

Cocaine looked around her. There was no one here. Why couldn't she be a pup again? At least just for a little bit. A small, dog smile grew on her maw and she leapt, bounding over to a slightly deeper section and sending water flying everywhere. She laughed aloud, splashing into the deeper water. She could still touch the bottom, she was just getting more of her body wet at this point. Her laughter, a light, musical tone, filled the small area where the stream sat. A pup at heart. That was what she was. Nothing more, nothing less. Just a pup. A fun-loving pup. And with that, she stopped bounding and just laid in the water, laughing her heart away. Her body dripped with water, but she didn't care. It felt good on her body. In a way, she felt like she could hold on to the pup inside her so long as this water stayed on her body. Deep down, though, she knew that that wasn't true. She knew, in her heart, that no matter what, her heart would always contain a little bit of pup.

[prospice]

Like most of his kind, Cristobal was not given to introspection in particular. He was more concerned with the here and now. The smells on the wind. Every little shift in the brush beneath. He wandered in that way that dogs without purpose do, nose close to the ground, stopping every so often to sniff around the secret nooks of bushes or tree trunks, ancient lines that held more history to his nose than a thousand eyes could see. His long tail, black dappled in a few places with single silver-brown brindle lines, waved languidly through the air, and his jaw hung open happily, the long tongue lolling out the side. He was not looking for food, more just exploring this unknown forest, probing the tracks on the ground, and generally enjoying himself on a sunlit spring day with the thrilling vibrancy of life all around. It was a good day, one where he had energy to spare.

Surviving on the island had been a trouble for Cristobal, at first. He, with cropped ears and friendly demeanor, had spent his entire life in the care of humans and hadn't ever been taught to hunt. The hunt was not something, after all, that was instinctual or part of the lifeblood of canines, it was something that wolves taught their pups. Yet, he hadn't died. He was thinner, true, a bit more wary and a lot more wild, but he had learned to kill the small things in the forest and was living, in general, a fairly easy life at present. Spring meant that prey animals were giving birth, and young could be easy targets when it came to rodents or hogs, if one could be lucky enough to find the latter. Cristobal survived mostly on squirrels and the lucky catch of a goose or, a few times, on the young nestlings of burrowing animals dug out as a fox will.

He had just finished snuffling around the bases of some holes near the tree trunks, well concealed beneath a thorny bush but not beyond the reach of his nose, sticking that wet black mass into them and snuffling deeply as he tried to discern the workings of the subterranean world, when his ears caught the sound of a stream at his back. He hadn't really been thinking about a drink until then. It was if the sound had awakened a desire that needed, now, to be met. So he backed out of the thorns, leaving the moles to their business, and ambled off at a lope towards the sound. The wind was at his back, so he didn't smell the other occupant of the stream until he was in seeing distance.

At the sight of Cocaine, his body grew stiff as a dog's does on viewing a stranger, his lolling tongue snapping back. He stood warily on the ridge for a moment, but her rolling and spinning in the string awakened in him something of curiosity. He had nothing to defend, no reason to be aggressive... and he wanted, actually, to meet this other dog, now. Maybe even to join in the fun. He let out a little whimper up on the slope, lowing tail and head in a gesture of kindly submission, the whine to get her to notice him, the posture to tell her that he was not a threat. slowly he inched his way forward, nose working and sniffing her out from afar, and when he got close he lowered into that play bow of the Molosser and of all canines, head tilted to show his caution and curiosity. It was a greeting, an invitation to play. "Hi! I'm Cristobal!" he said, still bowing playfully, his tail wagging slowly, cautiously... He hoped she wouldn't run away or growl at him.

[Cocaine]

Cocaine relaxed in the water for a little while longer, her musical tones filling the air before she caught a scent and stiffened. No, she was not afraid, for she was often times much larger than most other canines that she had encountered. But yet... She couldn't shake off the fact that one: she had not eaten in a few days, and two: her strength had diminished slightly over the past few years. She was definitely not as strong as she used to be, and going up against this other animal would be quite difficult for her. She growled at herself just then, wanting to bite herself for thinking such a thing. What are you doing, Cocaine? She thought, still growling at herself, You are a wolf. Strong and powerful, mighty and large. You shall stand down to no one. Her growl grew louder and she stood, sniffing the air, knowing that the other was getting closer.

The canine was male, bringing back Cocaine's fears of fighting again. She knew that a male could be strong than her especially if he was bigger than she was. Again, she started to have second thoughts about facing this canine. Even if he was smaller than she, did she want to take that chance? Cocaine clenched her jaw slightly and she thought about running for a minute, but it was already too late. Sure, she could run for long distances, but the male was already in sight, and she knew that he had both seen and smelt her. There was no hiding or running now. He could most likely follow her fairly easily, so she watched him, waiting for his reaction to her.

What she expected to happen... didn't. He lowered his head and let out a whine. Cocaine's head tilted to the side and her ears sprang forward, open to catch any sound he might make. He started toward her, but he was slow, cautiously moving. Cocaine watched him, sniffing the air as she caught his scent on the light wind. Her posture wasn't necessarily aggressive, but it was verging on it. She showed curiosity and yet, at the same time, fear and that if he tried anything, she wouldn't back down from a fight. He stopped not far from her and bent himself into the position of a playful bow. Cocaine perked her ears toward him as he greeted her. She stared at him for a moment, examining him once more. He looked playful. Was there something wrong with playing with another dog? No absolutely not. It was more fun when there were more than one of you playing.

Cocaine only stared at him for another minute and then she slowly pulled herself into the playful position, mimicking the dog before her. Hey Cristobal! I'm Cocaine! She barked gently, her tail wagging wildly and a doggish smile spreading across her lips. She wondered what he wanted to play. They could just jump around in the water like she had just been doing. Or maybe play fight if he didn't take it as an attack. Or some other game that would be considered fun to a wolf or dog. Finally, she decided on just jumping around in the water. That couldn't be taken as a threat, could it? She shook her head mentally and leapt away from the dog, splashing water around her. She laughed, her musical tones filling the silent air around her. Still laughing, she turned her head around to look at Cristobal to see if he was going to join her.

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[prospice]

Cristobal, like most wild animals (or, in his case, animals that have become wild) did not go looking for fights, especially with his own kind. While it was true that predators inhabiting the same area competed for food and resources, they generally did not do so at each other's throats. For one, the cost of an injury, particularly an open, bleeding wound, was much greater than whatever reward they could think to gain from fighting anyway. In general, canines in the wild, in particular those well instated in a pack, left one another well alone. Lone animals, as in this case, were wont to approach one another and even get to know one another. Cristobal was looking for companionship more than anything, having been brought up in the dog park tradition and having little to no fear of other canines. This was perhaps unwise, a little juvenile, but at the same time, to him it was better than solitude.

He sized up the stranger from afar first, of course. If she had been much older than him he probably would have left her well alone, for the simple reason that older dogs often didn't appreciate youthful advances or invitation for simple play. Cocaine, however, leaping in the spray with tongue lolling out and simply enjoying being a canine, did not appear threatening to him in posture. However, better to hold his ground, and if she showed any signs of wanting to attack him, better to flee or go belly-up, whichever appeared more effective. She was larger than him, height wise, but not so broad in the chest or square, and probably a good deal faster and geared towards that leaping flash of teeth that was wolf and wild dog. Cristobal didn't think much about breed and didn't do so now, and in any case he did not know what a wolf was, much less that it was different from him.

He remained wary, mouth sharply closed, muscles tense under his short fur, while she sized him up in return. This was the turning point of any meeting, the point where it could go either way. Badly, or well. He was watching her raptly, tense despite the genuine friendliness of posture, until she returned the bow, and then a great change came over him as he spring up stiff legged and bounded down the slope towards her, legs unbending in that Molosser way, tongue lolling out as he followed her into the river, paws breaking the surface and sending up sprays of water that made him shake his head and, in fact, his whole body reflexively. She laughed and he laughed, too, feeling that great sweeping enjoyment that comes with simply being and playing in the way that young dogs do.

It felt like a long time since he'd last had fun. His life here had been all hardships, all living stressed and tight and never releasing that energy that came with youth. He rounded about in the water, snapping at air, bowing and leaping and 'dancing' with Cocaine, getting to know her more from this than a lot of talk would do. "So how'd you end up here, anyway? Some men took me on a boat..." he asked, when he'd finally paused for a moment, grinning, tongue lolling out and much more relaxed now that he figured she wasn't going to attack him or anything like that. He figured he might as well ask that if there was nothing else to ask, not really anything he knew to talk about. She looked a lot more wild than he was, after all... In any case, he wasn't so much trying to stop the play as simply to find out more about his surroundings... about her, about this whole place. He still didn't know why he'd been left here, although he'd accepted it.

[Cocaine]

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[atrb=background,http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/qq95/amanda1472/co2.png] I will reply so so so so so soon! I promise! I lost alllll my muse for Cocaine! I promise the post will come soon!

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