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 Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 9:45 pm
 It was a pretty morning. The young pink wild dog was trotting along with her head bent upwards, eye on the reddish, orange sky. The clouds looked as if they were painted, the natural tint of the rising sun looking beautiful against the deep blue of the final remnants of the night.
Tongue hanging out of her mouth, she happily cantered, lifting her paws high off the ground as she moved along. If she had been looking at her surroundings she would have noticed that these were familiar trees. In fact, she would have noticed that her wanderings had brought her in a full circle, and that she was very near her own home.
Not much of an adventurer, it seemed, she continued on her way, blissfully unaware of her directionless wanderings. She was sure to find something interesting at some point, but for the moment all she could do was focus on the pretty colors. They were beginning to fade, and so was her interest. Sitting down abruptly, she let her tail wag through the grass.
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Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 10:43 am
Oboé sighed heavily, body slinking soundlessly through the tall grass. It seemed ages ago that she decided to search for a certain purple lion again, but in reality it had only been a couple of days. Oboé continued on in the general direction of the lion's dwelling place, tail swaying lazily behind her.
What a boring day, she thought. Well, the sun was nice and warm, at least. But then again...Perhaps it was too hot. Or was it?
Reaching the end of the long grass, Oboé stepped out into open land. A light pink figure caught her attention immediately. What was it called, again...? Oh, a tame dog, that was it. No...No, that wasn't it.
"Hello~." Oboé called placidly to the back of the something-dog, a relaxed smile moving to her face. The thought that the female could be vicious never crossed her mind. In Oboé's mind, it was better to greet someone and let them know you're there rather than to sneak by them. That could cause trouble.
Unfortunately, Oboé knew that from experience.
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Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 11:40 am
Laika wagged her tail as the leopard appeared from the grass, her tongue hanging from her muzzle as she nodded at the greeting. Standing as abruptly as she had sat, she bounced toward the pink creature, sniffing, her eyes excited despite not recognizing the scent.
Her friend had told her about a pink leopard, and, having never run into another pink wild dog, she could only assume this was the female he had spoken about. It made perfect sense in her head, and she greeted the leopard with all the informality of a sibling.
Since, as she and Apollo had agreed, that was what they were.
"Are you... Ob..." she frowned, having forgotten how to pronounce the name the purple lion had told her some time ago, "Apollo's friend? He's my brother! So if you were, we're sisters! I love having sisters, and your pink fur is very pretty!"
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 9:23 am
When she heard the name "Apollo", Oboé's heart skipped a beat and she halted her walking. Her lips parted slightly and she stared at the pink wild dog, bewildered. But she recovered fairly quickly. Enough for her train of thought to get going, anyway.
"Your...Brother?" Oboé echoed, blinking slowly. But she forgot the absurdity of it all at the compliment towards her fur. Oboé grinned and bowed. "Thank you." she said. "Yours is very beautiful, too." Oboé returned earnestly. "Like a..." her eyes wandered to the sky and she stared overhead, perhaps searching for the right comparison. Moments passed and Oboé remained silent, staring at the sky, suddenly lost in thought. Then she turned her head down to the wild dog. "I am your sister?" Oboé echoed in question. She flicked her tail and sat down, smiling at the adolescent.
Perhaps it wasn't such a boring day after all?
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Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 1:03 pm
"Yeah!" Laika barked happily. Despite her size, she still thought herself very much a puppy. In her head, adults knew everything, or at least a great amount, about the world and she had so much to learn. Plus, she felt no different today than she had in her first memory, so clearly she had every right to act the same. Time, maturity, and obligation had little bearing on her personality.
"My brother!" She wagged her tail as Oboe spaced out, waiting patiently for whatever it was she was going to say. When it didn't come Laika was not fazed, nodding furiously and moving closer to the leopard in order to sniff her with just as much excitement as the bobbing of her head dictated. She felt a little bit light headed for all the effort, the short bursts of air not filling her lungs as much as she needed.
"Apollo said it would be okay if I called you sister, since he said you were special to him and since I'm his sister, you can be mine! That's how family works, after all. It's nice to meet you, though! Because it's weird not actually knowing someone in your family. Are you doing anything right now? Want to go fishing?!"
Ever since Mito had taught her how to fish it had become her favorite thing to do. She offered the activity to everyone she met, to either show off her growing prowess at it, or show them something new.
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Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 1:16 pm
Even though so many words and so much information was flooding her all at once, Oboé sat calmly, listening to the wild dog. She winced a bit when the adolescent began sniffing her so violently since she wasn't used to such things, but overall, Oboé was very relaxed with the meeting. After all, this was her "sister".
"He said I was special to him?" Oboé asked softly, tilting her head. She didn't get to ponder for very long since the wild dog was speaking so rapidly. "Fishing?" she echoed. It had been a long time since she'd fished. The first time she had fished was because of a dare when she was a cub. She hadn't done it since, much preferring to hunt on land. But somehow, the idea of fishing then with the wild dog was appealing to the leopardess. She grinned and stood. "I would like to." she said. "I have never gone fishing with a sister before." Her golden eyes shifted to the sky again and she gazed at the clouds, making herself believe that they all looked like purple lions...
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Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 1:49 pm
Laika bounced as Oboe agreed to go fishing, the movement coming even before the words were out of the leopardess's mouth. Running in a small circle, excess energy prompting her to physically display her excitement, she barked and panted, looking around. She knew there had to be a watering hole around here, though it took her jumbled head a moment to realize she knew exactly where it was.
"Over here!" She said suddenly, running up to Oboe in two short steps. Bumping her head against the leopardess's side, as if nudging were required in getting her to follow, Laika then sprang away and bounded over the tall grasses toward the watering hole.
She stopped and looked over her shoulder, turning and running half way back before turning and charging away again. She repeated this process until she reached the hole, retreating every time she gained distance and thus doubling the length she had to travel.
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 10:44 am
At the sudden nudge in her side, a surprised grunt left Oboé. She had never met anyone as playful and excitable as this wild dog. It was something new for her. She wasn't at all against the adolescent's behavior, of course. Oboé loved new things.
As they made their way to the watering hole, Oboé took her own sweet time. She was silently amused by the wild dog's running back and forth. She was probably an excellent hunter, what with her speed and ability to change pace suddenly. When they reached the water, Oboé smiled lazily and waited in eager anticipation to begin fishing. She looked to the wild dog for guidance and waiting for instructions. Oboé had very little idea of how to fish.
"What's your name?" The leopardess asked interestedly after a moment.
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 3:58 pm
"I'm Laika!" She said with a laugh, finding herself silly for not saying that earlier. Usually it was the first thing she started a conversation with, and somehow it had completely slipped her mind. Her uncontrollable excitement was to blame, she decided. She had simply jumped from 'new acquaintance' to 'sister' without allowing the natural progression of the relationship to form.
Running to the waters' edge, she came to a sudden stop that sent her upper body lurching forward, almost knocking her off her feet. She did not want to disturb the water, and pulled herself back with a jerk of her head. Panting, she looked back at Oboe expectantly.
"Do you know how to fish? I can show you! My father taught me how. He's a good fisher, because he has claws like you do. But he's not a leopard. He's a lion! I'm going to show you, okay?" She did not realize that her words were a bit jumbled. She knew she did not mean showing Mito to Oboe, but rather showing how to fish.
Moving carefully into the water, she sat down when she was as deep as she dared. Sitting there, watching the fish move around her, she was as calm as she had ever been. It didn't last long, of course, and in a flash she was swatting at the water and barking at the top of her lungs.
Somehow a fish landed on the bank and she ran over to it, sniffing and barking at it endlessly.
"Did you see?! Just like that!"
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Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 1:10 pm
"Ohh, how delightful~!" Oboé drawled enthusiastically, a smile stretching across her face as Laika explained her father. She walked lazily to get a better look at what the wild dog was doing, feet drawing against the grass just slightly.
"OH!" Oboé exclaimed at the sudden splash of water, watching the fish flop around on land. Oboé jumped over to it, all laziness gone, and went down as low as she could to be at the creature's level. Eyes wide and smiling, Oboé was very content with watching it flop around. "How very wonderful..." Oboé said slowly, glancing up at Laika. But she frowned and sighed, suddenly forlorn. "I doubt I'll ever be as skilled a fisher as my sister." she said, prodding at the flailing fish a bit.
Goodness, it did look tasty...
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Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 2:39 pm
"No, you will!" Laika said, eagerly sincere, "I was bad when I was a puppy. I fell in the water and Pillow had to drag me out by the scruff. I was sad too because he caught a fish and I put it back in the water and it swam away. But you didn't do that, so at least you're better than me!"
She sniffed at the fish, wrinkling her nose and turning her head to sneeze. Of course, she turned her head away from the fish and towards Oboe, but thankfully had nothing to huff out but air. Sniffing, rather content, she bounced back to the water.
"You can eat that one, if you want! I can catch another one. It's hard for me to get through the skin it has, and it kind of breaks off and hurts but the meat is really good so its worth it. I think it might be easier for lions, but I'm not sure. Mito eats everything pretty well."
She didn't think about the fact that she had just called her adoptive father fat, eyes on the water already.
"Or you can come try to get one! Do you want to try? I bet my sister is much better at fishing than me!"
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Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 2:12 pm
With the expression Oboé had on her face, it was unclear whether or not the many speedy words of the wild dog adolescent were even registering in the leopardess's mind. She simply watched, smiling at her "sister", seeming genuinely happy to be there.
"Oh, I can?" Oboé asked in regards to eating the fish. She licked her lips slowly and turned her head to look at the flailing creature. She pawed at it quickly, attempting to bring it closer to herself, but one of her swats hit the fish roughly on its broad side and it went flying into the water. Then it disappeared beneath the surface.
Oboé stared at the pool, mouth forming a tiny O. She turned her head slowly to face Laika, face frozen.
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Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 5:55 pm
Laika erupted into laughter, bouncing up and down and rushing closer to Oboe. She practically leapt over her, scrambling around and getting very close as she expelled this sudden burst of energy through her amusement.
"I did the SAME THING," she barked loudly, her words punctuated by her laugh, and thick as she let her tongue lull out of her mouth, "Except not really. I didn't hit it, but I did put it back in the water and it swam away! I was so sad! Daddy hugged me and I felt better, but it's okay because we can catch another one!"
She remembered that when she had let her fish escape she had taken comfort in Mito. Deciding to be proactive, she moved to Oboe first, bowing her head and rubbing it against her sister's shoulder. Unfortunately, she was not the best at rubbing, pushing against her in more of a low speed headbutt than anything else. Looking up and bouncing back, she wagged her tail.
"You should try catching one! It will make you feel better about that other one, and you won't even think about it! I think about the sky a lot. But that's not the same thing. Oh yeah! When I lost my fish, I caught one later and took it to Mito so he could see that I caught it! It smelled a lot different then though, and I don't think my dad liked it."
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Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 12:59 pm
"You're very optimistic." Oboé stated slowly. She felt guilty that she had caused the fish Laika caught to go into the water, but she felt much better after the wild dog related to her instantly. The adolescent was bubbling, happy and loud. Oboé couldn't recall one awkward or sad moment in their entire meeting. The wild dog was just full of joy and life, nothing else; or so it seemed.
Was it possible for such people to exist?
"Alright," Oboé agreed decidedly after a moment of thinking. "I'll try." She inched forward on her belly until she was close to the water. Her tail swiveled behind her involuntarily and she gazed at her reflection on the surface. With a twitchy, odd movement, Oboé dipped her paw into the water. Immediately, she pulled it back out.
Her face was twisted in a grimace and she looked at Laika apologetically. "It's a bit cold." she murmured softly. "Perhaps I'll...Just let you catch another..."
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Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 3:00 pm
Laika giggled. She hadn't found it too cold, but then again, she hadn't been thinking about it. Maybe it was a bit cold. Frowning thoughtfully, she wondered now if she wanted to go back in. But then, she instantly knew that she did. Of course she did! She had said she would, after all, and it would do no good for anyone to lie.
Trotting forward, she nuzzled Oboe affectionately before passing her and moving carefully into the water. She sat down and watched the fish again, waiting for them to forget about her and get more comfortable with swimming near her. She decided to go for a different tactic this time and instead of using her paw and swatting a fish out of the water she dunked her head in, snapping onto one and hauling it out with her jaws.
Grinning, the large flopping fish still struggling in her mouth, Laika bounded over to Oboe again, splashing and sending water flying in every direction. She moved away from the water's edge and placed the fish down, keeping her head low and sniffing it, her hind quarters high and her tail wagging furiously.
"Got another one! You can have this one this time if you don't let it go back in the water!"
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![[Eskimo]'s avatar](https://a1cdn.gaiaonline.com/dress-up/avatar/ava/ea/2c/53920899312cea_flip.png?t=1541710050_6.00_00)