|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 11:30 am
 Laika had way too much energy for so early in the day. The sun had barely risen over the horizon, the golden reaches not yet chasing all the shadows from the plains, and she was already up and running around. She was barking at the rays of sunlight that reflected off the small pool of drinking water she had found during her early morning roaming, occupying herself as a small, lonely yet happy only-child was wont to do.
Not bothering to keep herself quiet, assuming there was no one around to hear her, or any one that did would simply ignore her as usual, she barked with unrestrained glee. The reflections played upon a small pile of rocks, and she pounced at them, knowing full well she could never catch them yet doing her best regardless. Laughing, she ran around the rocks, completing a number of laps before growing dizzy and having to sit down.
Flopping onto her back, she stared up at the sky and watched as the last of the stars began to vanish under the ocean of blue, as if a high tide was rolling over them. Heaving a sigh, she began to roll around in the dirt, just to give herself something to do.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 11:38 am
 It didn't take long for some distant barkings to reach Suika's ears. They perked up curiously, intrigued. Who else was about, he had figured he was all alone. As he stood up and stretched, all before he shook the grass from his fur. His gaze swept over the immediate area, but he didn't spot any figures.
That might have been, but the barking had to had come from somewhere. So he curiously set forth to find the source of the bark. As he wandered in the direction where he thought that the sound had originated from, he was rewarded. Lying on the ground was a brightly colored wilddog, just as himself! He grinned from ear to ear as his tail wagged.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 11:54 am
Laika heard someone approach and, after a few more good tosses in the dirt, rolled to her paws. Keeping crouched, she found herself looking up at a greenish wild dog pup, whose pink ears seemed to match her own. Tongue lulling out the side of her mouth, she wagged her tail at him welcomingly.
"Hello there, puppy!" she called, as if she were any older than he was, "how are you? Did you come to play with me? Or to drink, probably. There's water here, and it'll probably be hot. Though, it's not hot yet because it's just morning an- oh was I being too loud? I didn't think anyone was around! Do you have a family around here? My name's Laika!"
Laika had a problem organizing her thoughts into a coherent strain of sentences. Instead, everything in her head fell out of her mouth as if the floor in her brain cavity had simply dropped open. She never noticed, however, sitting up and patiently waiting for him to remember and respond to everything she had said.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 12:08 pm
As the female spoke, Suika couldn't help but laugh. His tail wagged as he greeted her, "Hello! I am good." He made his way closer to her, and took in her colors. She was many different shades, and he was sure that one of them had to match his own.
His ears perked forward as he nodded his head, "I heard some barking and got curious as to where it was coming from," He introduced himself, "I'm Suika! It's nice to meet you, Laika. And yes, I came to play with you if you want to, because I'd like to play!" He nodded his head, he wouldn't pass up a chance to play if she was offering afterall.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 12:38 pm
Laika leaped to her feet, letting out an enthusiastic bark as she closed the distance between them abruptly. Sliding her front paws forward, keeping her back legs rigid, she almost bowed in front of him, looking up playfully as she wagged her tail in the air so furiously it almost toppled her over each time it hit its furthest point on either side.
"Then let's play! What do you want to play? I was chasing that light from the water, because it was moving and I would kick a stone in and it would move even better. But that's not a very good two player game, because I think we'll run into each other. Oh, how about tag! Or hide and seek?"
She charged forward suddenly, bopping him in the chest with the top of her head in the echo of a goat ramming a rival. It was actually a show of friendship for her, because she had seen the way lions rubbed each other affectionately. Unfortunately she was not adept at rubbing, and so far had only mastered running into others with her face.
Oblivious to her mistakes, she bounded backwards and away, "tag, you're it! Come find me!"
She decided they would be playing both games, though she was too busy running away to come up with actual rules.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 8:32 am
As Laika had given him a couple of choices for games, Suika was about to choose one but was taken back by her head bopping him on the chest. Apparently he had been tagged it and she was running away from him. He was surprised for a moment, frozen in surprise.
But, he had quickly overcame that by bounding after her. He looked forward, watching her pink form some distance away from him. He called out playfully, "I'll come and get you in no time!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 9:54 am
"Word words words!" She barked back, racing around the grouping of rocks until she completed one full circle, then leaping up to the top in a flurry of scrambling paws, "you have to prove it before I believe you! But I won't let you catch me because then I'd lose the game and I don't want to!"
Sometimes Laika was master of the obvious. Other times, she was oblivious to everything but the most obscure details. Mostly she was non-sequitur and perfectly happy in being so. Not that she noticed her own peculiarities. And, having not met too many people in her relatively lonely existence, no one had pointed them out to her yet.
Leaping from the top of the rock, she landed into the water with a huge splash. It was not very deep, three feet or so, but it was enough for her to remain completely submerged for a short while as she organized her haphazard paws into a swimming motion. Splashing to the surface, she let out a hoot of a laugh, "can you swim? You'll have to if you want to catch me!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 10:41 am
As he raced after her, Suika's tongue was slightly lulled out to one side as he had a cheeky grin on his face. The wind was nice, it felt like he was flying since he was going as fast as his little legs could take him. He yipped back at her, "I will prove it!"
Once the rocks got closer to him, he leapt on one then another before he jumped right in after her. Landing with a large splash, he reappeared and paddled after her, "Of course I can!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 6:37 pm
"EEP!" Laika howled, splashing away from him. Her paws were not coordinated enough to call her sudden propulsion swimming, though she did managed to move through the water with some speed. Clambering to the edge of the water, she hauled herself out and, leaving a trail of drips in her wake, took off running.
She had no goal in mind, tearing across the plains at, as she considered it, a break neck speed. Unfortunately her long legs, having grown faster than her body during these vital years of changing, were a little outside her complete control. Suddenly finding her feet tangled, she pitched forward and skidded across the ground, curling into herself and turning it into a roll. She ended up on her back, looking up at the sky, dizzy and stunned.
After just a moment, however, she began to laugh uproariously.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 11:04 am
With Laika in sight, Suika swam after her. She was just a body's length away from him when she hauled herself out of the water and back on land. Getting his footing on the soft mud, he ran after all. Water dripped from him, but he didn't care. It kept him nice and cool.
As he was running full force after her, his eyes widen as he watched her fall forward. He was about to stop and see if she was ok when she started laughing. He smiled as he pounced on top of her. He looked down and grinned, "I caught you!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 9:30 pm
"No!" Laika barked, as if she could disqualify his pouncing her by yelling loud enough. Rolling back and forth, it was unclear if she was trying to escape or trying to sink into the mud she was stirring beneath her back. She kicked her paws, playfully, and giggled as she protested.
"It doesn't count, I fell down and that's not fair! You can't jump on someone that falls down, because it's not you catching them it's them falling down! Gravity beat me, not you, so I get a redo okay? One two three go!" And with that she freed herself from him, scrambling away and laughing. She wasn't actually playing by any rules, as there were none for this game, but it made her feel better about running away by justifying it.
She darted across the grass, though she was not actually all that fast. As long as she got a head start, she could put up a good run, but from a dead start it took her a little while to pick up some speed. Plus, he back feet kept slipping in the mud that was dripping off her back.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 4:58 pm
"Yea huh! It is fair!" Suika stuck out his tongue at her, not fully caring what she had said. In his mind, he had caught her even if she didn't want to admit it in the first place. He shook his head at her as she freed herself and leapt away running.
With a bit of mud on himself as well, it was flung behind him as he shook himself before going to chase after her. Not two seconds after he shook himself he darted after her, bent on catching her this time!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 5:26 pm
She came to a sudden stop, skidding across the grass and rocking forward once her paws found firm hold in the earth. Jerking around, she stood and waited for him to run toward her, crouching and letting her muscles coil before leaping and landing on him, interrupting his charge.
Rolling with him for a while, she scrambled away only to take a seat next to him, panting and look exuberant, "now we're even, because I really was it and now I got you so we're even. Do you live around here? Do you have a family? I don't, but I want one. I think I could just go out and find one if I wanted but I have done it yet. Do you have a mom and dad? I want a sister."
Each sentence fell from her mouth with a breath, the longer ones making her gasp to compensate for their length. She tilted her head at him, her tail wagging furiously behind her and kicking up a cloud of dust. It was a familiar topic for her, that of families. She liked to ask any random stranger what their families were like, just to get a broad idea about how they should feel and be.
Though, she always failed to take good notes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 10:50 am
Just as he thought he was getting closer to Laika, Suika was caught by her pounce. Taken back by surprise, his eyes widen as he felt the ground underneath him. Well, there goes everything he was trying to do.
When he heard her words, he couldn't help but bark out a laugh, "I guess your right. Nice trick!" He nodded at her before he wiggled his way free.
His ears perked forward as he listened to her. At her questions he shook his head. "I don't know where I live, I just wander wherever my legs take me since I don't know where my family is. I can't remember them, they are just blur to me." It had been like that for some time that he's not at all sadden by it, as that was how his life was. "I guess it would be nice to have a sibling or two to play with." He was huffing slightly as he spoke.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 11:35 am
"I'm the same way!" Laika yelped, a little over eagerly. She was excited to find someone with a similar story to her own. She bounced happily where she sat, her ears flopping up and down, "I don't know anything about my family, if I even have one, I just think they never really existed and I'm on my own but that's okay because I'd rather meet a bunch of new people rather than be stuck knowing the same few, you know?"
She nodded at him, though he had finished speaking, "I want to have as big a family as I can! Because I think family should be people you love and care about, not just people you are actually related to, you know? I'll come up with names for everyone, like brother and sister only not because we're not brothers or sisters. I don't know what just yet, but I'll think about it."
Tilting her head at him she barked as she got an idea, "do you want to be a part of my family? Only I'll need another word for it that isn't family. Though I guess we could be family. Of friends!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
