what's left? easy: fools. (OPEN)

[hobbit]

What was left of the old ways but sad remains, broken down by the wind? Worn by lack of care? What was left but hope and dreams? What was left but the fight between good and evil; sane and insane?

Easy: pathetic scraps of fur.

The long highway was bare; no cars had run across it for quite some time and the highway seemed to frown, as if the lack of cars (and animals squealing as said cars ran them over) was all it had lived for. Then again, the highway had been created for the sole purpose of allowing humans easy places to travel. Imagine a car trying to run through the woods! Humans would have been getting stuck all the time! A female, wandering along near the highway, shook her head as she padded onward. Her paws ached from walking on the harsh ground for so long, but the lanky dog did not pause; she really wasn’t aware of where her paws were taking her, and if one asked they would earn themselves a snarl, but she didn’t care where she was going. At some point, she would reach a wall, so why did it matter where her paws carried her?

The Belgian Malinois was still alert, though; lost in a sea of memories, yes, but alert nonetheless. She was not the type of dog that allowed herself to sink completely into the past; she knew better than that. She knew that the humans would not return and, to be honest, she did not care. One would think that, because of this, Maiali would have aligned herself with the pack completely opposed towards the retriever known as Big Yellow, but the four year old did not belong to any pack. Any dog waiting for the humans was a fool, in her opinion. They had left them all behind. They had to move on.

If she was the only one smart enough to realize it, so be it.

Maiali didn’t care if all the others rotted.

More room to roam if they did.

[FalconX]

[atrb=border,1,true][atrb=cellSpacing,1,true][atrb=cellPadding,1,true][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=background, i54.tinypic.com/riakux.jpg] The roads were desolate. Completely abandoned. The world would never be the same, even when the humans came back. The destruction that covered the roads of the neighborhood could not be ignored, and some of it, could never be repaired. A sigh slipped from the large amber colored canine. He was so tired of this life, so tired of trying to solve all of the problems. He would stay strong though, no matter what happened, he had to be here to welcome his humans home. They would not abandon him, they would come back, no matter how long it took them. Big Yellow would wait. He had been walking for several hours. To think, he supposed. There was no way to rationalize his wandering. There was nothing to be found but miles of emptiness. Only the occasional wandering animal broke the stillness.The temperature steadily dropped as the hours ticked by. The sun would soon begin to sink in the sky and then was the time that he needed to worry. Wolf and his renegade band of dogs would slink out from the forests, raiding those who chose to hope, to believe. Murderous animals with only one thing on their mind, to destroy those who continued to wait. Big Yellow's ears pricked forward as he heard the familiar padding of paws on the cracked pavement. His large brown eyes looked forward. By the smell of the other canine, it was a female. Knowing the area and the surrounding dogs, he knew that nothing good ever came from a long female roaming. He also knew that she was not likely to appreciate his company should he approach her. Still, he could not simply walk away. He gave a low bark in greeting, his tail giving a slow, friendly wag.

[hobbit]

Apparently, the female was not as alert as she had thought.

It was the other dog’s low bark that alerted her to his presence; a bark that nearly caused the female to jump out of her skin, despite the fact that there was no hostility in the bark. The dog turned, her brown eyes seeking out the other animal, her black nose flaring as she scented the air. There was no need for her to draw in any scent, for she quickly found the other animal, as he did not seem to try and hide himself.

Muscles tensed beneath the Malinois’ pelt as she watched the other, whose tail was wagging in a manner Maiali would never allow hers to copy. For a moment, a light sneer appeared on her black muzzle, but one might have thought it was nothing more than a trick of the eyes, for as soon as it appeared, the sneer was gone. What replaced it was an expression befitting a statue, so stoic and cold one might guess that Maiali’s heart was made of stone and stone only. The young animal watched the Golden Retriever for a moment longer before speaking, “What do you want?”

Introductions were things of civil times; this land was no longer civil and so she did not desire to introduce herself, though she would if asked. As she waited for a reply, Maiali’s eyes drifted up to the sky, where the sun was beginning to set. The sky was an abstract masterpiece, brilliant colors swirling together to create an image no artist could ever dream of duplicating perfectly; not even the best camera of the day could capture the beauty of the sunset, but within the beauty there was an ominous threat. Children were not imagining when they said scary things came out in the dark. Scary things always came out in the dark, and even with the humans gone, it would not stop. Scary things would never stop coming. Not that Maiali was in much danger; she was small for her breed, but still capable of fighting, and it wasn’t like she had anything a dog may like to steal. The female wandered around alone for the most part; loners didn’t tend to have anything worthwhile. Not even their thoughts were considered worth a penny, although this was considered a-okay by Maiali. She wasn’t one that enjoyed sharing her ideas.

With a flick of a large, pointed ear, the female returned to the present. Once more, her brown eyes landed on the stranger as she waited for him to state his reason for being here.

And it better be a good one.

[FalconX]

[atrb=border,1,true][atrb=cellSpacing,1,true][atrb=cellPadding,1,true][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=background, i54.tinypic.com/riakux.jpg] The air of disdain shrouded the other canine and it took everything Big Yellow had to not turn around and walk away. The female in front of him stared at him in annoyance, her hold body rigid with hostility. He was not wanted, of that she made very clear. She sneered and he gave a friendly smile in return. All dogs did these days was fight, and this canine before her was no different. They humans leaving was a great tragedy, but it affected the dogs beyond compare. Perhaps this dog had never cared for the humans, or perhaps she was merely wounded by their leaving, Big Yellow had no idea the reasoning behind the hatred that she was openly displaying. His amber coat flashed in the dying light of the sun. It was disappearing quickly from the evening sky, and all he wished was to return home before the entirety of its guiding light had vanished. Big Yellow's bright brown eyes regarded the female with far less contempt than she had given him. He made no move to approach her, sure that such a thing would only serve to provoke her into attacking. His downward turned ears pricked forward as best as he could, as they captured the sound of the final song of the day. The birds were off to sleep, just as he soon would be. He briefly entertained the notion of simply leaving behind this surly female, but decided that he best talk to her, if only for a moment to explain his interruption. He opened his large mouth carefully, taking a deep breath and letting it out with a sight. His attentive ears caught her question and he watched her solemnly for a moment, his tail no longer wagging in a greeting. "I know you are bound to have a prior engagement, but I thought it would only be polite of me to invite you to take shelter at my pack's home, seeing as night is well on its way." He shifted on his paws, his posture as casual and relaxed as his tone of voice. "Though I have no doubts of your capability to defend yourself and find a warm place to sleep. I only offer if you should like to escape the elements a couple of hours earlier." He dipped his head slightly. "However, if you wish to be on your way, I will not bother you any further." Big Yellow never pushed himself on someone. He offered help and shelter to those who would like it, but if they deemed it unnecessary, then he would leave them be. Even if she would return to his packs land with him, it would only be for the night, he was definitely not one to keep someone against their will.

[hobbit]

The sight of a smile on the brute’s lips was unnerving; one did not smile when one was sneered at. Unless, of course, one happened to have a serious mental defect which rendered them incapable of reading facial expressions. As the yellow dog spoke, Maiali looked up at the sky, painted with the dying sun’s blood. Shelter was nice and all, any animal would agree, but to seek shelter within a pack was something Maiali could never do. Not now, when such shelter was required. Besides, this yellow dog, if her memory served her correctly, leads a pack of human lovers. The chances for debates would be far too high among them, and Maiali did not wish to find herself trying to fight an entire pack. She may be fast, but she was not Batgirl; she could not fight off a pack.

However, since the other dog had been polite, Maiali would try her best to be. She was not an entirely surly creature; manners had been taught to her. Getting her to follow them was a struggle, though. Social laws were nothing more than strict requirements dictating how one was to act because some dogs were too soft to handle the damn truth. Heaven forbid someone tell them they smell like skunk butt! Heaven forbid someone tell them to suck it up and stop whining. No, no, just stick to the laws and don’t you dare move away from them, unless you wish to have a giant stamp mark you as a “SOCIAL REJECT”. To be honest, Maiali was sure that she had received this stamp when she was only a few weeks old…so why was she even going to bother with being nice?

Meh, she didn’t feel like an argument.

“Thank you for the offer, but I am more comfortable bedding alone,” Maiali said simply. Politeness, in her book, did not include speaking a ton because the other dog had. If he wanted rambling, he could go search out a bird or some other simple minded creature.