It's Just So Quiet [Open]

[x||D.j.a.n.g.o||x]

He looked at her for a second, taking in her form, her colour, her being; gauging her personality, trying to get a feel for this girl. She was typical, yes; all bark, no bite- or other way round, something along those lines. Secretive, yet needy; all the things beings like her are. Some part of him didn't like it; thought her dangerous, a hindering to the pack. The nicer part of him argued with that and pointed out that without her, the pack would possibly dead- or worse. Whatever pack it is.

Simply he shrugged, a small smile on his face; his eyes oddly wise for someone as young as he. For one, he knew that if he said anything like 'Oh, I saw through your tough exteriour, darling, and saw your true image', then she'll probably throw a paw right at his face, either rendering him unconscious or just making him look even further like a wanton fool.

Girls, he thought with a small mental huff. Always digging for compliments; always hiding something.

[.:.S.:.t.:.o.:.r.:.m.:.]

Storm gave Scout a curt nod, as if to acknowledge her prescence, not really bothering with her too much. She had just given away to this stupid mutt that she was not what she appeared to be, and that angered her. Even more so because his eyes seemed to be mocking her- like he knew just what she was. A stupid, needy little brat who acted like she was tougher than she really was. And this angered her even more. She snarled once, the only warning for what she was going to do next; and still she seemed to be taunted by him. Taunted by the pure-bred, too. And by Scout. God, I really am losing my sanity.

In the next second a blur of movements happened, and suddenly Django was pinned by all fours with Storm's snow-white paw against his throat, claws actually touching the soft flesh. "Dead," she growled, her eyes looking almost black the way they were for that instant. Angered, definitely. But then she calmed down. Mood-swings much, she thought, almost embarassed. But there was still some anger there, so it wasn't unbearable.

[x||D.j.a.n.g.o||x]

Django's gaze lingered on hers, a moment of fright in his eyes as she pinned him, claws digging against the soft flesh that held his Life-Blood. His mind raced, searching for that right thing to do; the thing that would keep him happy. A little insane, possibly; the way he did things to hide his troubles, keeping them at the edge of his mind, making sure he hardly knew they existed.

No, no; fighting back would only result in a fight. He didn't want a fight; that would land him dead, or worse; it would hurt the girl. Laying there, he still didn't submit; didn't even pin back his ears or let out a growl. He just stayed on his back, waiting for the female to finish with her episode, waiting for some sort of calm to go over her, as he stayed calm himself.

Figuring that being assertive or aggressive with this one would get him no-where, he decided to keep himself low-key- making his efforts for 'fight back' subtle and nearly unreadable. Something he was good at, he thought. After all, you had to be quite good at such things if you wanted to be your momma's favourite. "Cheri; is there not better prey than I, a sewer rat with such a piss-poor name as Django?" His tone was slightly mocking, he'd admit, but he felt a tad proud of himself as he kept it as cheerful sounding as possible. I'm getting good at this.

[<--``Kiva]

Kiva laid her white head onto her paws, a little bored as the two dogs, the mutt and the husky, insulted each other, trying to dig into the other's feelings. The mutt's care-free attitude astounded her. He wasn't exactly locking up any bad feelings this husky drudged up, but overcame them with happiness. And the husky, obviously strong in both muscle and mind, or so Kiva had thought. But she had seen the depression behind Storm's mask, when the husky had let it slip. Kiva blinked, suprised, and yet not surprised. Dogs like that tended to have that mess inside of them.

When Storm pinned down Django Kiva sat back up. She did not know if she had originally intended to help Django when she had first started getting up, but she knew she should not. It was not her fight. She calmed herself back down and sat there, looking a bit stiff, but otherwise normal. Kiva was not the "alpha" type. She let other dogs have their fights, fought when needed, but never had much of a want to be top dog. No, no, no this little dog was gentle and calm.

[.:.S.:.t.:.o.:.r.:.m.:.]

After a few moments Storm took her paw off Django's throat, a small smile creeping up on her face. He hadn't fought back, but hadn't given in, either. Maybe he wasn't so stupid afterall. "I must be getting soft; not killing you when I had the opportunity," Storm smiled now, her tone light and joking. She tried to change the dark mood with some humor; her regular personality slipping through and replacing the cracks of her depression. "Maybe I was wrong about you, Cajun-boy. Maybe you're not so bad, afterall. Or maybe you're just so stupid you seem smart. Either one is very possible."

Happiness was the echo of her thoughts, now, as Storm examined the care-free dog, and then the little white pure-bred near her. She hadn't even said a word the whole time; staying out of the fight and waiting for the two battlers to decide when it was over. Not much of a leader; one of the background dogs, Storm thought. A 'background' dog to her was just a dog that minded its own business, answering only the questions asked. She particularly liked these kinds of dogs, though, because they never really got annoying. She hated annoying dogs. No more weakness, no more pain, no more emotional slip-ups. Storm kept repeating this over and over in her mind, as if it would actually help. She wished -as stupid as it may sound- that she was any of the three dogs; either Scout, or Kiva, or her little Cajun-boy Django. They were all happy, not having to put on a mask and fake it like she did. She kept telling herself -coaching probably being the better word- that she was very happy, and most times it worked. Especially if she was around happy people.

[x||D.j.a.n.g.o||x]

Once he was able to get back to his feet, he stood up and shook out his fur, the shag coat letting out a cloud of dust twice the size of the dog. He stayed silent, letting his tongue loll out to the side once again, replacing the grin with an even goofier one. Eventful. Looking at all the dogs around him, he smiled inwardly, too. Whether they knew it or not, they were his friends, now. Already they've gone through quite a scene- which, to Django, was more than enough reason to consider them friends. After all, they've exchanged names, even spoken a bit; one of them even had the guts to take him down.

Sitting down, he kept his front paws near his back, seeming to slouch a bit. "Anyone else hungry?" He asked, feeling the slight bite of hunger eat at his stomach, like an annoying flea, but on the inside. Looking around again, he noticed how quiet the two others were, despite how talkative the Scout one had been. It was interesting; did Storm really have that much of an 'alpha' feel to her? Django didn't really feel it; he mainly figured she just wasn't one who put up with idiotic things, and was just a very tough-seeming dog. Nothing alpha like.

[.:.S.:.t.:.o.:.r.:.m.:.]

It wasn't until Django had mentioned he was hungry that Storm realized she was, too. Starving, even. She had just been about to grab a bite to eat when she'd heard the crashing sound he'd made, and had gone down to figure out what the noise was. She'd been momentarily distracted, but now her hunger was all she could think about. When was the last time she'd eaten... One day? Two? The latter sounded right; she hadn't really thought about eating, so it was just a dull ache in her stomach.

"I'm starved," she said, it being only half of a lie. In truth, she was starved. But that was only half of the reason she had said that. The other half was because she really didn't like the subway station; it just reeked of mold, and was covered just about everywhere with it. Either that or dirty water. Or both.

[<--``Kiva]

Kiva got to her paws and shook her fur, hoping there wasn't any on the mold stuck to her. She was secretly a little vain about her coat, and she didn't want anything mucking it up. She then stretched, bending her back both ways, and bounced a couple times to re-energize. "I could do with a bite to eat." Kiva admitted, smiling easily now that the tension seemed to have lifted. Kiva thought back to her last meal, a pigeon, yesterday morning. She had been rather proud of herself, having wrestled it out of the jaws of some mutt. The bitch looked fatter than a house cat, and Kiva had been hungry. Now, though, hunger had returned. Someone really should get rid of hunger, its such a pain. Kiva mused, not caring that it was a completlely nonsensical statement.

The white dog tilted her head to the side a little and wagged her tail. "So where do you all want to go?" She asked brightly.

[♥S.C.O.U.T.♥]

Scout didn't zone off this time. That was surprising for her, but when Storm pinned Django to the ground in a flash, it caught Scout's attention, making her shift back slightly away from her friend Storm, feeling a small shard of fear of Storm in her heart. That was also a first, considering Scout and Storm were best friends.

A silence followed and soon Django decided her was hungry. Everyone seemed to agree, Storm, Kiva, Django, all of them decided to leave to go hunt. "Yes, very hungry." She murmured. Without answering Kiva, Scout got up on all four paws and shook herself. Stray water flew from her fur. She started the pad away towards the stairs, remembering to be careful and not as stupid as Djagno.

[.:.S.:.t.:.o.:.r.:.m.:.]

Storm looked at Scout once; she seemed almost... Afraid of her. And when she finally replied to what Django said, it was nothing more than a murmur. Normally she's so loud; am I really that scary? She thought, a slightly humorous tone to her thoughts. It really isn't like Scout to stay so quiet... What's bugging her? Kicking Django's ass wasn't that big of a deal, was it? As Storm continued to think, she didn't even notice that the white dog had said anything until she'd heard the question she'd asked; where did they want to go to eat?

"I don't know; maybe the Food Store, or somewhere outside the city with prey? The prey is less dangerous, but the Food Store has, well, more food. So I guess I'd rather go to the Food Store. What about you guys?" Storm waited, patiently, for the others to respond. She figured Django would probably make some stupid comment that in his mind he thought was funny, and then Kiva and Scout would just answer which one they preferred. They were like four good friends, now; they were all talking and planning on eating together, right? Did that not describe -on some level- friendship?

[d[-_-]b Midnight d[-_-]b]

Midnight sniffed the musty air in the damp, rusty tunnels that lead up to the old subway station. She could feel the cold subway tracks that were used ages ago wearing away under her hard, scratchy pads. Her fur was mangled from being in these tunnels for so long, ever since she can remember actually. She knew the place like the back of her paw and could go around blind as most of the tunnels were pure darkness anyways.

As she approached the old station, she could smell other dogs there, three or four by how strong the scents were, all gathered around talking. Unusual.. She thought. Most dogs are too scared to come down here.. It's not the ideal place for a dog if you're not used to it.. Which, I am, so who cares anyway.. She thought to herself as she shrugged off the thought and jogged closer. "Who's there?" She called out as she neared the corner where the tunnel broke off and the station lay awaiting in the underground nothingness.

[<<|Keira|>>]

Keira heard the crashing sound; nearly everyone in the town had. She'd convinced herself to not go down, seeing as plenty of stronger, older dogs had gone down, but they hadn't come back up. Her chocolate eyes flashed with worry. Are they alright? she wondered, attempting to peak her small head around a big Golden Retriever. It was a big bowl of darkness down to the sub-way. Curiosity get the better of her, as it always did, and she snuck inside the station, being careful to not draw the attention of any dogs. No need for anyone else to come down and follow her. Curiosity killed the cat, she thought, the familiar saying echoing throughout her mind, telling her to just wait for the other dogs to come out. But as she stumbled through the darkness, she heard voices, and then saw a light. She followed it, naturally, and soon saw a couple of dogs talking to themselves, about... what was it they had said? About getting some food? The thought of it made her stomach rumble. When was the last time she'd eaten?

As she began to step out of the darkness, she examined each dog. Two of them seemed familiar; the Husky and the other German Shepherd. But the white dog -the pure-bred looking one- and the mutt were two faces she'd never seen before. Then again, cats are very stupid animals, she smiled to herself at her own stupid joke, adding this thought on to her previous warning. A little curiosity couldn't hurt, right? Nervously she picked her way over to the other dogs, frowning when she realized she was less than half the size of them. She remained standing,trying to make herself look taller, but after a few minutes gave up. She was still a little ways away from them; she wouldn't be so rude as to walk right up to them. "Do you guys know what that crashing sound was? A lot of dogs are nervous because of it." Her chocolate eyes again looked to each dog, that all-important innocent pup-look in her eyes and was a large part of the tone of her voice. It almost trembled; Keira was never very good at starting out with new people, but as the conversation progressed she usually got better. Someone could even call her a shy-starter; that definitely fit. I hope they aren't mean and don't hate me, she thought.

[J/o/y!]

<sub>The crash nearly drove Joy deaf, for she had been simply sitting around and enjoying the fresh air. It had been completely still, no sound, just light and life. But the BOOM! ruined it, and she nearly toppled over for flinching so hard. Joy got up, irritated by the interruption of her quiet morning, and went to investigate. At first she was hesitant, wondering just what in the world could've made a sound so loud that every dog around could hear it, but curiousity gnawed and bothered and itched her until she couldn't stand it. Standing up and grumbling to herself, "I must learn how to control my curiousity. Who knows who--or what-- is down there?" Her paws tapped and echoed a quick rhythm through the quiet subway. The voices grew louder as she traveled further, becoming more and more worried. I have no idea what's going on, yet I'm going... curse curiousity. Finally, she was there. By now, she was half-mad with worry and indecision. Her large chocolate eyes seemed be bigger than ever, and were dull. When she peeked in, it seemed her golden shoulders dropped ten feet, she was so relieved. But they tensed just a tad again as her eyes fell upon the unfamiliar mutt that had a little gleam in his eyes. One that didn't seem to good. Joy willed herself to back off, but was frozen.

Might as well go, she thought, still standing. They've probably already scented me by now. There's no backing out of it. But who in the name of heaven was that mutt? Joy's tenseness was a bit relaxed, because she knew that if the mutt was dangerous, Scout and Storm would have finished it off by now.

Joy slowly padded it, her pawsteps having no rhythm. Her voice, which was usually stable with a forced confidence, shattered and crumbled with her loss of words. "H-hey, guys," she said, cursing herself for stuttering. She tried, barely succeeding, to steady her tone. But before she could ask, another dog she hadn't noticed asked her own internal question. Do you guys know what that crashing sound was? A lot of dogs are nervous because of it.

"Yes," she agreed, her chocolate eyes trained on the mutt. She wanted him to get the message that he better not try anything on her. Her want increased her confidence, and the smile that so easily flashed across her face reappeared. "I was pretty scared, myself. But I see now that everything is going well. And you are--" She cut off there, kind of asking a question, waiting for the stranger to finish her sentence.</sub>

------------
Word Count? 441
Muse Level? Good enough
Notes? Dis is mah first post on TTL. XD
Thread Status? Me, Scout, Storm/Keira, Django, Kiva, and Moonshadow. OPEN.

[d[-_-]b Midnight d[-_-]b]

Midnight sniffed the cold, rusty tracks of the subway, looking for any evidence of what may become crucial pieces to a puzzle. She didn't know exactly what puzzle, nor did she know what she was looking for, but it seemed logical enough that if there was a large, deafening crashing sound, there was going to be a problem on her paws. It was the third time that that had happened in about a week or so and she couldn't stand it any longer. No matter how far down the tunnels she got, the sound echoed until it had reached the suburbs on the other side of the country.

Midnight huffed and scolded herself for being so curious and walked over and into the open area of what used to be the subway station 'lobby' as some call it where they wait for their subway to arrive. She shuddered as the cool air quickly chilled her to the bone as it rushed in from the world above; the world she had never truly understood, nor wished to understand. Midnight saw a few other dogs, a few who's scent was familiar as the breed as common, and some not so familiar; mutts. "Who are you." She barked again, more of a statement or a command rather than a question.
-------------------
Word Count: 222

[Jane]

Jane watched all the chaoss, rustling people, invested with different smells , different sites, and different people. The subway screeeching to a stop, people coming down the narrow cramped staircase. Staring at the other dogs around in the subway

[♥S.C.O.U.T.♥]

((Please post 150 words, Jane, thank you.))

[d[-_-]b Midnight d[-_-]b]

((Is anyone going to post in this thread??))