Completed [Job Thread] The Wolf and The Gibbat Dog

[Redd]

Date: Day 6, Winter, 514 AV
Location: Various

Redd stood on the outskirts of the Courtyard, her single hazel hue taking note of the graveyard before her. The fog was unnerving really and she took note of the tombstones present within the courtyard. In all honesty, she didn’t expect the courtyard to look like a graveyard. The young wolf had half expected it to be an open space, seeing as it was called a courtyard. However, she didn’t exactly know much about what to expect within cities. Hell, Sahova wasn’t exactly what she had thought it would be either, not that she had any real expectations for that either. The whole place had a feel of loneliness to it and it was sticking to her, almost as if it was already clinging to the loneliness that already existed within the wolf. She pulled the black cloak around her tightly, for although it didn’t get that cold within Sahova, she definitely felt the chill of loneliness. It was a feeling that never truly left a lone wolf and it constantly grew. Her hands lifted so then her right hand could trace over the half black sun that was tattooed upon the back of her left hand. At the time that she had got it, it had been called Elias’s mark, but she had since learned that it was Ravok’s mark. Sometimes she tried to feel as if she could connect to the city, to push the loneliness back, but it never worked.

However, the young wolf was used to the lonely feeling and so, she didn’t let the feel of Sahova bring her down too much. For she couldn’t, she still had her revenge to take out on Verin’s brother and so she needed patience. She needed to control her own thoughts and feelings, however hard that was at times. Her own goal would be the only goal that would keep her pushing forwards, even if the dreams did keep haunting her. There is no such thing as home… The words echoed inside of her head and they followed her throughout her daily life. The words hadn’t been so prominent when Elias had owned her, but now, ever since he had left, they continued to plague her. Slowly she drew in a deep breath as she focused upon the fog and listened to the wind that drifted amongst the tombstones, occasionally hearing distances voices upon it. It was not uncommon really, but sometimes the voices heard sent chills down her spine. The courtyard was not a place for the living and Redd was fast finding out that Sahova as a whole was most definitely not for the living. It was a feeling that she couldn’t really describe, for to her, mostly everything within this place seemed more dead than alive. Perhaps it was because she had lived outside of Ravok that she felt this way.

She continued to stand there for a few chimes before she moved forwards, her steps slow as she attempted to walk with light footsteps. The young wolf didn’t want to accidentally walk on someone's grave and have some ghost angry at her. Coming to Sahova was an eye opener for Redd, for she had never seen a ghost till she had arrived at the city. Did everyone turn into a ghost when they die? She silently asked as she paused for a moment to stare at a cracked tombstone. She did know, that she would most definitely haunt this place if she ever died here, for it was completely depressing, at least to her anyway. A place without life just didn’t seem right, it didn’t seem… What was the word? She asked herself as she pressed forwards, keeping her gaze lowered so then to not draw too much attention, not that she was worried about it, for people rarely paid any attention to her. Mostly it seemed that she was invisible to the seeing eye. It was then that the word came to her and she stopped in her steps for a brief moment. A place without life was unnatural.

[Redd]

Redd shivered at that thought as she remembered the word that had once also been associated with herself by her mother. A memory of that fateful day flashed through her mind. Her angry, but also surprised mother chasing her out of the house. A blink soon chased away this memory and a soft growl rose to her lips at this. Why was she remembering this? Perhaps it is because of the unnatural surroundings, a place where unnatural beings live… Came the unwanted thought, a thought that the young wolf did not know as to where it came from. Of late, a small voice would whisper things within her mind and she either agreed or fought with the voice. More often than not, she fought with that little voice. The voice that always pointed out facts that made her hurt even more, hurt with an emotional pain. The voice always liked to point out the fact that there was no such thing as home, or the fact that no one would ever care about a simple wolf. She wanted to believe that it was a lie, that Verin did care to an extent, but other than financial value, which he was all too happy to point out, there wasn’t anything else that she could think of. When he got back to Ravok, would he just leave her alone like everyone else?

”Redd.”A voice cut into her thoughts and she lifted her head to spy with her single hazel hue, the form of Darien. He, as always, was dressed in his usual armour and she realized that she had been a little slow to pick up his scent of horse, grass and a general dusty smell of dirt. It was strange that she hadn’t picked up on his scent straight away, but it didn’t surprise her. The young wolf had retreated back into her thoughts, her single gaze focused upon the ground just in front of her. A behaviour that she had adopted recently. ”Darien.” She simply said, quite aware that she was still considered to only be a slave in the eyes of many. The kelvic had yet to meet anyone that thought of her as anything more than just an animal. So what good would the use of words be, if they couldn’t convince anyone that she was anything but? Teeth has always been a good form of communication, one could also talk using their teeth instead. Came yet another thought, but she continued on her path to pass through the Vestibule, only to have Darien to step into her path. ”It would appear that you intend to go out and do the job that has been assigned to you. I will accompany you for today.”

A statement, but it was hardly surprising seeing as most people tended to do things without asking if she was ok with it. They don’t care… Remember? A simple shrug had her shoulders rising and falling as she paced forwards, her hands simply sliding into the pockets of her pants, Darien turned and began to lead the way out or so it seemed. Darien to Redd, seemed similar to some Ravokians although, he didn’t smell like them. No and it allowed her to trust him, although only the smallest of trust. If she was in trouble, she wouldn’t go to him. In fact, she really didn’t know who she would go to. Perhaps death would be preferable? Came the voice again and she barely refrained from growling at it. No, death was hardly an option, it wasn’t something that she would lie down and accept really. At least, not without a bloody fight. They seemed to walk in silence for a moment til she noticed that the ground turned into sand and sparse vegetation covered it. ”The Prairie,” came the answer to her unspoken question. ”It is a field in which we call the testing grounds. We don’t have the normal animals that you get around Ravok. For Sahova is a place for magical research and development, so we have animals that have been altered.” The word altered, stuck inside of her mind for a moment before a shiver slid down her spine. There was no way that she was staying in Sahova for too long, she didn’t want to be a part of their research.

[Redd]

Redd’s bare foot brushed the top of the sandy and basically barren land and a frown descended upon her brow. How did anything live here? She silently asked herself as her single hazel hue peered at the sparse vegetation, pausing before some spikey bush. She would have reached out to touch it if she didn’t already know that she would only receive a prick on the finger for her troubles. What made her curious was, was it edible at all? Of course the wolf wasn’t a vegetarian, she had eaten the odd berry when she was starving, but that was as close as she got to eating a plant. However, she had seen the animals that she preyed on, eat grass and plants and she winced as she tried to imagine some plant eating animal eat this bush. A shake of her head was given as she began to walk away from the bush. ”This is the Prairie, nothing can live off of this land, if at all.” Spoke Darien and Redd would have lifted a brow at the man if she thought that he was being sarcastic about it, but he was serious. Well no shyke, she whispered to herself as she spied vegetation, well, what looked like a forest in the distance and she began to walk towards it.

As she neared the edge of the forest that soon rose up high about her, she could see that thorns clung to nearly everything and she began to seriously wonder just as to what animals that they bred within these testing grounds. What animal in their right mind would live in a thorn infested area? Almost on cue, a dog, with a busy tail, two long ears and four eyes popped into sight and Redd cursed herself for even asking that question. Of course, the altered animals lived in this ridiculous and almost inhabitable environment. Well, inhabitable for normal animals. It was then that the animal jumped and her single gaze tried its best to follow the path that the animal took with limited success. The black animal had disappeared into the thorny undergrowth and the last thing she saw was a flare of red. ”Wha-“ Her words were cut off as Darien almost began to instantly explain, ”That was a gibbat dog. They mimick the speed of a hare, their ears are rumoured to pick up a falling leaf upon the ground and have excellent sight and mostly live in the Forest of Thorns. Good luck trying to catch one of them.” It almost sounded like a challenge and a soft growl rose to her lips. ”By the time I leave here, I aim to catch one.” Redd said with a determination that surprised her.

It had been a while since something had actually made her want to do anything and here it was. Hunting, it was bringing her back to her some-what normal self, as it always did. No human rules, no human orders, no human confusion and all of its so-called titles. It was just her trying and challenging herself to be better at what she did know. Which was to hunt anything and everything. To better her pray and to kill them. ”I’ll leave you to it,” was all Darien said as he turned and walked away. Her single eye followed him for a moment before she turned to face the Forest of Thorns once again. Without wasting any time, the woman began to pull off her clothes in a hurried fashion, for she didn’t want to lose the scent of the gibbat dog, if she could pick it up. She placed them next to a thorny tree, eyeing it for a moment and she shook her head, for she doubted that anyone would steal her clothes. They were already beginning to fray with age, but they were still usable. Then a familiar pale red light surrounded her form as she borrowed and shifted into her wolf form.

[Redd]

Redd’s paws felt the earth underneath them, well, more like the old drying leaves, but it was better than nothing. Well, that was what she thought anyway. She lowered herself down so then she was lying upon the hard ground and then she did something that she hadn’t done for quite some time. She rolled. The young wolf rolled around on the leafy floor, her paws scattering the leaves with some force and she then stilled, lying upon the ground for a moment. Her tongue rolled out as she panted, her tail wagging some as her single golden hue looked forwards. Golden brown leaves, stuck to her red coat, but that didn’t worry Redd, for she was quite used to being dirty. Well, she had been quite used to it. Ever since living in Ravok and Sahova she didn’t get very many chances to just simply roll around the leafy floor, gathering dirt. In fact, she was sure that she would bring a frown to Verin’s face when she came back. For the moment, however, she simply enjoyed being where wolves were meant to be, wild and free. The young wolf lifted her nose, her eye closing as she felt the sun shine through the tree tops. It might not be the wilds that she was used to outside of Ravok, but at least it was some kind of wilds at the very least.

Slowly, the wolf moved to stand and she shook her form as leaves scattered and removed themselves from her coat. A couple of leaves remain stuck within her fur, but she didn’t mind, not one bit. Redd lowered her nose and took in the scents surrounding her, the musty scent of the earth and the mouldy smell of the old leaves were the most common. Redd sniffed around for a bit, attempting to find the scent of the gibbat dog that she knew had been around here. Although, it probably didn’t help her cause at all that she had stirred up the leaves in the area, making it harder to find the scent. A soft growl of frustration rose within as she realised that she had just made her job a lot harder. So, with her nose to the ground, she began to work her way to the outside of the small little clearing. Then, once she had, she began to circle around the spot where she had decided to take a roll.

One step, two steps… The red wolf paused suddenly, as both her ears pricked forward and she inhaled once more, drawing in the scent that she had picked up. Redd angled her head slightly before she began to move forwards, but at a slow pace. The scent that she had picked up wasn’t very strong, in fact, she was sure that it was a faint trail. Not surprising that it’s faint, she told herself as she pressed on, her ears flickering forwards and backwards as the wolf attempted to capture every sound within the forest. However, she was soon finding out that there wasn’t a lot of animal sounds, in fact it was mostly quiet save for the occasionally breeze of the wind that rustled the tree leaves. Slowly, she would begin to lean towards the right, seeing as she was missing an eye on that side and her fur would then brush against the thorns of a tree. This made her edge towards her left and she lowered her head to keep going unperturbed by the thorns that seem to grow from the trees themselves. It was after all, Sahova and even if she did managed to stick herself, it probably wouldn’t hurt as much as losing an eye.

[Redd]

Redd stopped in her tracks within a small clearing for a moment as she slowly moved to sit back upon her haunches and glanced about her surroundings. The scent had led her right here and it just seemed to have stopped, almost like that and she angled her head, puzzled by this mystery. Slowly, her gaze dropped to view the little creek that seemed to be burbling quite close and she blinked not really remembering as to when exactly the sound had reached her ears. The young wolf should have heard it almost instantly, although faint when she should have initially began to hear it, but apparently, she hadn’t. Strange… She thought to herself as she leaned forwards in order to stand and pad her way over to the little creek. Pausing before it, she lowered her nose so then her breath made the running water ripple. It seemed that she had been wrong, the scent hadn’t stopped over where she had been seated, but by the creek that she now stood before. It was strange really, well, to the wolf that it was strange, for the creek didn’t really have a scent and that it covered up other scents. With a scoff, determination told the wolf to step into it to find the scent that she had lost for the second time that day.

Bracing herself, she stepped into the gurgling water and her ears pressed back against her head at the cool water that was now soaking the fur around her paws. With a soft snort she walked through the water in order to reach the other side, drawing in deep breaths in order to catch the scent that she had lost. The scent that reached her sensitive sense of smell, was not one, but many. Oh she caught the familiar scent of the one that she had been tracking, but she also caught the scent of many others just like it. One ear flickered forwards as she swept her nose from the left to the right, her golden hue seeking out the quick footed creatures. The young hunter saw none, but as she moved around the clearing, weaving in and out of it, she noticed that the scents didn’t go any further than the clearing itself. It was a puzzle to the wolf, for surely even such a small dog like the Gibbat would leave some kind of trail… Wouldn’t they?

A soft growl was issued in frustration as she continued to pace the clearing. The wolf’s head was held low in thought, but her ears flickered back and forth as she attempted to catch any kind of sound that might be heard. While she paced, her own paws scattered the leafy cover upon the ground and her single gaze caught the sight of the indent that was the shape of a smaller sized paw. The red wolf paused all movements and she went still while she reached her nose out to sniff the paw print. It wasn’t the same scent that she had been chasing before, but it was definitely Gibbat. A rush of air was pushed from her lungs in a huff and she sat back upon her hind quarters while she pondered her current situation. Where could they have possibly gone? It wasn’t as if they could fly, because from what she had seen of her glimpse of a Gibbat, they didn’t have the wings of a bird. Redd angled her head to the right as she pondered about her prey for a moment. It looked similar to a filthy dog, but it had four eyes and ears that were way too large for a normal dog. In fact, they almost looked like the ears of a rabbit. After a few more chimes, the young wolf decided to stand and was about to back-track when a small ’yip!’ was heard.

[Redd]

Redd’s attention was automatically captured and she lifted her nose to follow the sound to its source… Upwards. Both of her ears flickered forwards and she angled her head to the right so then her golden hue could really discern that it really was what she thought it was. A pack of Gibbat dogs were settled in the thorny trees above her and her automatic response, was to growl. However, she held it in, but both of her ears pressed back against her head, the only response that she couldn’t hold back. Needless to say, it was an instinctual response when presented with a frustrating situation. How did dogs, dogs of all animals, get up into the trees? Not to mention that the trees had thorns growing out of them. The young wolf tilted her head a little more to the right so then her golden hue could view the tree tops in a wider view. Colours of black, white and red filled her vision, not to mention the many blue eyes that peered down at her. Redd counted at least eleven of the dogs, all perched on branches with their nimble paws. While the little animals annoyed her for being so quick and clever, she couldn’t help but admire the agility that these dogs had. The only question was, how did Redd get them out of those thorny trees?

Slowly, she moved to stand back up onto all four paws, her nose still pointed upwards towards the Gibbat dogs as she began to pace the small area from one side to the other. However, she was careful to note when her fur was beginning to brush up against the thorns of the trees that the dogs had currently occupied themselves within. Meanwhile, the Gibbat dogs seemed very interested in her movements, even giving a small ’yip!’ every now and then. The young wolf came to a stop and both of her ears pricked forwards when she saw that one of them had looked at another and give a wag of their tail. Were they finding this to be a game? Redd questioned as another relaxed their jaw so then its maw parted, their tongue rolling out to the side as it panted. Are these animals playing with her? She couldn’t quite believe her eyes, they were dogs that she had every intention of killing because she could and they were playing a game. If she was in human form, she could very well see herself standing there with her mouth wide open in disbelief. Instead, she settled with simply angling her head to the left side and the only words that came to mind were, What. The. Petch.

After a couple more chimes and Redd had had enough time to digest this fact, she finally came to a conclusion. I’m going to have to pretend to want to play with them, she thought with disgust and a hint of worry. The wolf feared that she had forgotten how to play, to emit the signals that would signified that she did want to play. Hell, her memories of the wolf pack felt more like a dream than something that she had actually done. Although, she was more disgusted with the fact that she had even came up with the idea of playing with dogs. They were disgusting and not at all like wolves. In fact, Redd was more than happy to rip a few heads off if someone classed her as a dog. It was an insult to her, for wolves were much nobler than dogs and far more loyal… if treated right. Both ears would then flicker back against her head as she pondered the thought. A golden hue watched the dogs and it was then that she realized that if she wanted to pretend to play, all she really needed to do… was loosen up. Starting with the tail.

[Redd]

Redd’s ears flickered forwards and slowly, she wagged her tail just a little bit. This brought out a little response of flickering ears towards the red wolf, they had even leaned forwards. However, the young wolf knew that this was just a simple show of interest. Her ear flickered back for a moment as she reflected back upon a memory of when she had been nothing but a pup recovering from a long winter that would have seen her dead. Yet, here she was still trying to remember what play was. The humans within her life had a way of stealing the feeling from her and now all she really knew was the rage that burned within. Not only that, but the darkness that seemed to creep in to make her feel powerless. The young wolf shook her head to shake off the creeping feeling, for she had to work out the current situation first. It seemed like the tail wag had worked, but she knew that she would have to do more than that if she wanted to fool the stupid dogs. Redd’s tongue darted out to lash at her nose, as her paws shifted ever so slightly. Although, it was really just the red wolf lifting her paws up before placing them in almost the exact same spot in order to try and psych herself up to do the task at hand.

Slowly, she pushed her front paws into the dirt which shoved her bum upwards as both of her ears pricked forwards. Her tail would then begin to slowly move from one side to the other. The dogs all began to lean a little further, but it still wasn’t enough, the wolf still had to sell it somehow. An idea suddenly came to mind and the wolf pounced on it. Redd leaped back up and began to chase her tail, a notion that she never really understood as to why it was done. After a few spins, she knew that she couldn’t do this for too long, so she leapt to the right. This action nearly had her losing her footing, but she caught it just in time, by digging her front right paw and hind paw into the ground. Spinning around hadn’t really been such a good idea, but she was trying to sell it wasn’t she? She shook her head, lifting her gaze upwards to view the Gibbats above. They were all leaning forward now, their own tails wagging in enthusiasm. Close, so very close. Redd thought to herself and she allowed her bottom jaw to go slack so then her tongue could roll out to the side of her maw as she panted.

With quick movements, she bounded to the left, afterwards, she pressed her front paws back into the dirt, lifting her bum back up into the air again as she mimicked the tails of the dogs above. The wolf’s tail wagged just as furious as theirs, for she too had to seem enthusiastic to play. The young wolf knew, she had to off put herself, make her seem clumsy enough and less of a threat, otherwise they would stay up in those damn trees until she left. For the last time, the wolf jumped up and began to run around in circles chasing her own tail again, but this time she wouldn’t just stop at a couple of passes. No, instead she continued circling around and around until the dizziness caught up to her and her legs went out from underneath her, this caused her to go nose diving into the ground. She was so glad that no one else was around to see this humiliating fiasco, for she felt that this was unbecoming of a wolf. Redd shook her head as if it could dispel the dizziness and put the moving earth around her, back into place. The moment that the earth seemed to begin to fall back into place, she lifted her nose just as she began to hear the tree leaves move above.

[Redd]

Redd couldn't believe what she was seeing exactly and the young wolf shook her head again to see if it would put the earth back into place. The dogs were coming down from the thorny trees, but they were leaping out of them with a kind of agility that she hadn’t seen in a dog before. While they were of the dog variety, the Gibbat dogs had some serious skills with their paws and the wolf couldn’t help but admire that about them. In fact, she noted, agility was a worthy skill to have and if she practised more, it would probably benefit her in the long run. Her head angled slightly to the right as she gathered her paws underneath her form, her ears pricking forwards as her single golden hue noted how their paws touched down upon a thorny branch with grace and confidence, their paws didn’t even land upon the thorns and she had so hoped that that would be the case. If one wounded themselves on the jump down, then they would be an easier target. The only problem, was the fact that Redd didn’t have two eyes to keep an eye on most of their journeys down. So one could wound themselves and she wouldn’t really know unless they yelped in pain.

In what felt like mere ticks, the dogs were down and bouncing around the wolf and she moved to stand, making sure that her tail was still wagging. She didn’t want them catching onto her true intentions too early. While they were good on their feet, Redd always thought of dogs as pretty stupid. They never questioned anything and would go fetch a stick if it made their masters happy. The red wolf watched while they bounced all around her and she slowly crouched down low, her tail coming to a complete stop. No more wagging and no more acting silly for this wolf. She now meant business and she was out for blood now, the games were over. It was then as if the Gibbats knew that danger lurked among their midst and suddenly they were all leaping away. Redd lunged forwards, her jaws snapping out at anything that moved. A twig snapped closed by and her teeth lunged out to her right, her jaws just grazed passed fur and her right paw lashed forwards. A ’yelp!’ was issued from her intended target and she twisted her form right to see where her claws had gotten one.

As luck would have it, she caught sight of a Gibbat dog leaping away, but blood stained and matted the fur on the left side of a dog. Although, Redd knew that there was no way that she was going to catch up to it, for it had already disappeared into the thorny underground. Slowly, the young wolf sat back, her golden hue watched the last furry tail disappear and if she was in human form, she knew that she would have smirked. While she didn’t catch her prey, she had been able to fool them long enough to get close to injure one of them. Next time, when she did go hunting for Gibbats again, it seemed that she would have to be a hell of a lot more stealthier than she had been upon this day. Caution would more than likely be her best friend, as well as a lot less rolling about in leaves, no matter how amazing it looked. Slowly, the wolf stood on all four paws and moved forwards, but only to turn around to back-track to where her clothes were stashed. Although she didn’t get the dog that she had originally set out to do, she had found and re-claimed her love for hunting.

[Languish]

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